Learned Behavior
The dark-green unicorn mare was sitting at her desk, hunched over the solid oak table, staring at the piles of documents and files scattered all around the entirety of the tabletop, along with several files jutting out from half-open drawers. Her ear twitched lightly; she could hear her client’s light clopping of hooves as she approaching her room. It surprised her that this client of hers in particular had decided to come into her room this quickly—usually, she had a couple of spare minutes before Lyra Heartstrings even rose from the cushion in the waiting room. And yet, her previous client had left only fifteen seconds ago, and Lyra has already—wait.
She could hear two sets of hoofsteps, one light and fleet like Lyra’s, the other heavy, and somewhat clumsy-sounding even on the carpeting placed over the hard tile floor of the castle hallway.
‘Now what could this be about?’ the unicorn asked herself. As the light hoofsteps stopped suddenly just outside her office door, Dreamcatcher retained her composure and said to the ponies on the other side, “Come in.”
Twilight stopped and blinked for a moment. Her hoof was raised, just about to knock on the finely-varnished, natural oak door, set with but a single small golden nameplate that read to the squinting eye “Dreamcatcher.” Since the voice inside had already invited Twilight in, she lowered her hoof without having knocked and instead turned the door’s handle to walk inside, Big Mac only a step behind.
As Twilight entered the office, she saw what could have been mistaken as an office for herself, if she’d had one. The room was no larger than the average living room; three of the walls were completely made up of bookshelf that raised up to the ten-foot-high ceiling. The only sources of light were the four bright candles situated at each corner of the room, and the currently-dimmed fireplace right behind the dark-green, black-haired unicorn sitting in her desk.
The mare was gazing into Twilight with curiosity in her light-purple eyes, making Twilight feel uneasy. She swished away a piece of her jet-black mane that was in her face to get a better look at the two ponies entering her room. “You…are not Lyra Heartstrings,” was the first thing she said to the two.
A lump formed in Twilight’s throat; even though she had no reason to be this nervous, the gaze from those purple eyes were making Twilight feel extremely on-edge. “Uh—” Her voice cracked when she first tried speaking. “Yeah, uh, I know. We—me and Big Mac here—and I’m Twilight Sparkle, we—”
“Oh, you do not need to introduce yourself to me, Twilight Sparkle,” Dreamcatcher stated, slowly scooting her chair back to get out from her desk and onto the floor, “I know all about you, you and your friends who’ve saved the land of Equestria, twice!” She walked around her large, paper-filled desk to stand only a foot from Twilight. She was only a few inches taller than the purple unicorn, and Twilight could now see the dreamcatcher cutie mark on her flank. “What I want to know is, why are you here, and Lyra not?”
Twilight tried her best to swallow the lump in her throat, but it seemed to stick firmly in place. Big Mac, seeing that the unicorn was in distress, quickly jumped in to explain.
“Mah sister Applejack has some kinda ‘conditioning’ problem. A few days ago, she ate a bad apple that got her sick, an’ now she can barely look at one without tryin’ t’ puke. Mah family has a big get-together thing goin’ on tomorrow, and we were hopin’ that you could take time outta yer busy schedule to help out AJ in getting over this problem of hers.”
Dreamcatcher took her eyes off of Twilight for a moment to look at Big Mac while he spoke; Twilight took a silent gasp for air when the unicorn did. “You still haven’t told me what happened to Lyra,” Dreamcatcher stated plainly. “She’s the one with an appointment for me.”
Twilight finally got the nerve to speak. “She didn’t feel like coming today, and said we could come in in her stead, to ask for your help.”
Finally getting the answer she’d been waiting for, Dreamcatcher appeared to soften from her erect stance. “I see. Not surprised—I can tell she listens to me when I talk, but that doesn’t mean she cares to hear it.” The unicorn quickly brushed back her mane and walked back to her seat on the other side of the desk. “I’m sorry, Twilight Sparkle, but unless this ‘Applejack’ is here in Canterlot, I’m afraid there’s not much I can do. And I can already tell that this pony you speak of isn’t here—had she been, she would have been with you, and her brother wouldn’t have arrived in her stead.” She got back into her chair and returned to staring at her mass of papers. “Lyra’s absence gives me the perfect opportunity to catch up on all this backup of documents. So, please, excuse yourselves from my office.”
Now Twilight regained all of her confidence, and shot back at the unicorn. “What?! You can’t just do that, we need your help!”
“And as much as I’d like to assist the savers of Equestria,” Dreamcatcher said, not looking up from her papers as she lifted a pen with a white magic aura, signing the bottom line on several documents, “I simply don’t have the time. Not to mention, you don’t even have an appointment with me, so you technically have no right to be in here in the first place.”
“I—but I—”
Big Mac patted Twilight’s shoulder to get her attention. As she looked up to him, exasperation on her face, he gave a simple nod, telling her to leave the room so he could give his own persuasion a whirl. He wanted Applejack cured as much—if not more so—than Twilight, and wasn’t leaving Canterlot without giving it all they had. When the door closed behind him, Big Mac turned to face Dreamcatcher, who didn’t look up from her papers.
“I have nothing else to say,” the unicorn said before Big Mac could even open his mouth. “Too much for me to do at the moment.”
Big Mac dropped his heavy front hooves on top of the mare’s desk, causing a loud rumble and making the annoyed Dreamcatcher look up to face the stallion.
“Look,” Big Mac started, his nostrils flaring, “Ah don’t think you realize how much more important mah sister is than your dang papers.”
Dreamcatcher brought herself into in erect sit in her chair; her unnerving stare made the earth-pony take his hooves off of her desk, mostly out of fear. “If you’re really going to make this much of a fit about it, here.” Her horn lit up with white, as did a small scroll off to Big Mac’s right, clamped between two loosely-placed books on the bookshelf. The scroll was levitated towards the stallion and stopped in mid-air when it was right in front of his face. “This here is a spell I created myself,” Dreamcatcher explained. “The ‘System Restore,’ as I like to call it. You can return a pony’s mind to a previous state, from up to a week before. It’s a dangerous spell in the wrong hooves, but I trust Twilight Sparkle to keep it safe.” Big Mac absentmindedly held out his hoof, to which the scroll’s white aura vanished and fell into his grasp. The stallion opened his mouth to speak, to thank the mare, but he was cut off when Dreamcatcher spoke up again. “Though keep in mind that I made this spell for myself—it’s custom-tailored to my magic, and nopony else’s. Twilight Sparkle can try it out if she wants, but do not expect it to work on your sister.” Dreamcatcher shuffled back into her chair, still looking at the silent red stallion. “Consider it my parting gift with you and Twilight Sparkle. Please now, I still have a lot of work to do.” She fanned her hoof at Big Mac, shooing him away towards the door.
“Hope you weren’t going for a climactic battle of wits,” she said to herself, under her breath.
Without saying a word, Big Mac opened up the office door and walked into the hallway; the door promptly shut behind him. Twilight, who had apparently been pacing back and forth in front of the door, jumped with a yelp from the loud slamming of the door. She looked up to see Big Mac with a mysterious scroll now held in his mouth. The unicorn’s eyes glimmered when she saw the piece of paper, and she leapt in front of him to see what it was.
“What’s that?” the starry-eyed unicorn asked, eyeing the paper.
Big Mac let the scroll out of his mouth to explain. “That mare said that this is sum spell that’ll fix AJ, but it may not work fer ya.”
“Wow!” Twilight exclaimed, picking the scroll up with her magic and quickly opening it to examine its contents. “How’d you get Dreamcatcher to give this to you?” she asked, enthralled.
Big Mac gave a loud sniff, erected his back and suddenly became a lot more triumphant–looking. He said, in a casual tone, “It was no big deal. Jus’ had to show th’ mare what’s what an’ then she got me what I was lookin’ for.”
Twilight caught on to the stallion’s façade, and she cocked a sly eyebrow at him. “Yeah, sure thing Casanova. Let’s just get this scroll on the next train to Ponyville—we’ve no time to waste!”
Apple Fritter opened the door to the Apple Family house and walked inside the living room; she was headed towards the kitchen for more napkins, when she stumbled across her cousin Applejack—playing the most contrived, odd-looking board-game she had ever seen. Sitting across from orange mare was a bubbly-looking, pink-haired earth-pony. Fritter had never seen this pink pony before—was she even a member of the Apple family? What was she doing here?
Before Fritter could open her mouth—and before Applejack could give a wave and a “hi”—the pink mare turned around and suddenly became wide-eyed.
“OOH!” the ecstatic pony shouted, making Fritter flinch, “Who’s this pony, Jackie?! I haven’t met her yet!”
Applejack stopped in mid-toss of a wooden mallet at a rubber duck, and turned to speak to the pink pony nonchalantly. “Ah don’t think you’ve met a majority of mah family, Pink. This here is Apple Fritter. Apple Fritter, this is Pinkie Pie—a friend of mine’s.”
Fritter was too focused on trying to understand the confounded game Applejack and her friend were playing to remember to say “hello.” Thankfully, Pinkie filled in the gaps for her, vigorously shaking her hoof.
“Hi, there! I’m Pinkie Pie and I bet you’re good friends with Jackie, aren’t you? Well, so am I! This is so great, and we’re gonna have so much more fun—”
Apple Fritter’s green-streaked mane was bouncing in sync with Pinkie’s up-and-down motion of shaking her hoof, dizzying the mare. Applejack tossed the wooden mallet at the duck from several feet across the room, toppling the yellow rubber duck with a loud squeak.
“How many points d’ya think that squeak was worth?” the farmer casually asked Pinkie. Much to Fritter’s relief, the lively earth-pony stopped greeting her to consider the question for a moment.
“I’d say about three?” Pinkie half-answered, half-asked. “I wasn’t really paying attention. What about you, Apple Fritter?” Pinkie suddenly turned her attention back to the light-yellow mare.
“Huh?”
“How many points do you think that last squeak was worth?” the pink pony honestly asked, as if it were a serious question.
Fritter glanced at the duck lying next to the tossed mallet, then to the pink pony that was in her face, then over to Applejack, who only replied with a ‘just go with it’ shrug. “Um…I suppose three sounds good? I—I’m just here to get some napkins in the kitchen…”
“Top shelf, left-most cupboard from the sink-side,” Applejack replied, pointing a hoof to the kitchen doorway. “So, how’s the party-planning going along?”
“Oh, it goes,” Fritter answered as casually as she could; after what she’d just experienced, she almost felt violated in a way. “So what are you two doing?”
“Waitin’ on some friends,” Applejack answered to the mare entering the kitchen, as Pinkie wrote down a number on a pad of paper. “Just killin’ time, fer now.”
Having grabbed the required napkins, Fritter was ready to go back outside and assist with decorating. However, she held back as she reentered the kitchen, debating whether or not to ask her cousin something. “…Is it true, AJ? I’ve been hearing rumors…”
Applejack’s slack position suddenly straightened up, and she froze in place. “Y-yah heard?”
“Well…”
The farmer mare groaned as if she were in pain, placing her hoof on her face. “Lordy—Ah didn’t want anypony t’ find out! This—this is so embarrassing!”
“It’s not the worst thing in the world, AJ,” Fritter tried to console her cousin. She immediately regretted it, as Applejack suddenly became upset.
“‘Not the worst thing?’ Are you bucking kidding me!? Ah’m a disgrace! Ah can barely even look at an apple, for Celestia’s sake!” As she yelled at Fritter, Applejack slammed her hoof on the floor for emphasis, making the bottle caps jump an inch into the air. “You have no idea what it feels like, Fritter! You—”
Pinkie didn’t like what was going on one bit. In a desperate attempt to calm down both the Apple mares, Pinkie leapt in-between the two and began to dance a nervous jig and sing a tune. “As a fil~ly on the farm, my sis and I ne~ver quite—”
“Ah’m outta here,” Applejack rudely interrupted. She kicked the apple-themed magnet to the side as she stormed upstairs, a loud slam being heard a few seconds later.
“But,” Pinkie pleaded to the stairs with drooped ears, “I didn’t finish my song…” Pinkie turned to look at Fritter, who looked even more emotionally ravaged than Pinkie did.
“I’m so sorry…I—I had no idea she’d react that way…”
Pinkie, realizing that Fritter needed more comfort than she did, walked up to the mare and gave a reassuring half-hug. “It’s not your fault, Fritty. You couldn’t have known she’d flip.”
“I shouldn’t have asked though!”
“Either way,” Pinkie said, “Right now we should focus on making Jackie feel better again, instead of thinking about what we’ve already done. C’mon,” her face suddenly brightened, and her smile filled Fritter with newfound hope, “I have an idea for Jackie.”
“An idea?” Fritter wasn’t sure if she liked the way Pinkie had said that. “You sure it’ll work?”
Pinkie paused for a moment, a pause that made Fritter feel even less confident. “Well, everything else has been going along just fine, so I don’t see why this won’t.”
“Ugh…” Twilight groaned, “I think some of that old stallion’s B.O. on the train has attached itself to me. Here,” she shoved the top of her head into Big Mac’s face, “give me a whiff.”
“Uh, Ah’d rather not, Twi,” Big Mac nervously replied. “Like you said, we don’t have time to waste. Let’s just get over to the farm now and fix mah sis.”
The two ponies were walking down the central street of Ponyville, having taken the train ride back home without a hitch—sans the terrible smell of the stallion that sat across from the two. Only a few hours had passed, too; the trip to Dreamcatcher’s might not have been a raging success, but it surprised Twilight just how well everything had been going for them.
“On the ride, I glanced over Dreamcatcher’s spell several times,” Twilight mentioned to Big Mac to break the silence between the two. “In all honesty, it’s simple enough, but requires large amounts of magic at a single time. I’m not sure if I have that kind of power to do it. Also…” Her tone changed, and the way she said the last word worried Big Mac, “…what if I do actually use the spell, but I mess it up? The spell’s designed to basically wipe a section of her memory. This isn’t something that has second chances—isn’t something that you can ‘redo.’ If I mess it up…”
“Now don’t talk like that, Twi,” Big Mac scolded the unicorn, “Yur extremely talented; if anypony can do it, it’s you. Ah believe in ya, Twi.”
Twilight smiled a false smile in return. The words of comfort did little for the increasingly-worried mare.
The apples trees were beginning to pop up on the horizon. Thick clouds of green dotted with shades of red, the Apple Family Orchard slowly rose into view. Neither Twilight nor Big Mac could see the house yet; they assumed that during their time gone more relatives had arrived and helped with the setting up. Several straight lines were carved into the dirt road leading to the house, a sign that ponies had come through carrying carriages of food or whatnot. Sure enough, once the winding dirt trail straightened out to reveal the family house, a couple of trailers were stationed to the side, and the area in front of the barn already oozed of the word ‘party.’
Twilight picked up her pace, going into a quick trot to get to the house as fast as possible. She was only a few yards from the door when she heard a familiar pink pony calling out through a window on the other side of the house.
“Aaaapplejack! Hello? Where aaarrreee yooouuuu?”
Twilight stopped and looked to Big Mac, worried. “Did Applejack leave?”
“Don’t see how she coulda,” the red stallion replied. “Ah thought she couldn’t look at apples or anything.”
Twilight was about to reply, when her question was suddenly answered in the form of a cardboard box that rustled as it bumped into a tree on the edge of the clearing, followed by a hushed “ow” spoken inside in a feminine southern drawl. All worry on Twilight’s face was immediately swept away and replaced with disappointed contempt; she looked at Big Mac, who shared her expression, before the two of them proceeded to confront the mystery box.
Apparently not hearing their approach, the box continued to shuffle slowly between the apple trees, getting farther and farther from the house. The box didn’t even have any holes in it to see through, and whenever it lifted one would notice the four orange stubs taking baby steps forward. Twilight bumped the box with her hoof, making it jump and let out a small yelp.
“Applejack,” Twilight scolded, “this is ridiculous. Get out of there.”
“Twilight!” the box exclaimed in a muffled cry of joy, “Pinkie told me earlier that you were gonna get help—do you have somethin’ to help me?”
“I’ll get to that in a minute,” Twilight replied in a tone that made her sound like a mother telling off her son. “What I want to know is why you’re trying to escape in a box.” Another call from Pinkie was heard in the background. “Pinkie’s looking for you, Applejack. Care to tell me why?”
The box sighed and shuffled around to face Twilight with the ‘THIS SIDE UP’ icon looking at her. “Ah just felt so terrible…Twi, imagine if you got horribly sick every time you tried to read a book! That’s what it feels like for me!”
“That’s still no reason to abandon the friends that are trying to help you, AJ. Now come on, let’s get you back inside—I have a spell that can hopefully help you.”
The box perked up at the mention, and a second later was tossed off and thrown to the side revealing the orange mare with her eyes closed. “Could’ya guide me over back t’ the house then, Twi?” Applejack held out her hoof, waving it around in the air trying to find something to hold on to.
The purple unicorn smiled and met her friend’s hoof with her own. “I’d be happy to, Applejack.” As Pinkie called out another time for the farmer, Twilight yelled out to Pinkie from the other side of the house, “We found her, Pinkie! She’s just outside; we’re bringing her in!”
“Great!” the pink pony happily cried out.
The three ponies walked together to the house so Applejack could open her eyes without risk of seeing the thousands of apples around her. With the mare’s eyes still closed, Twilight opened the front door; when Applejack opened her eyes, she suddenly saw all her family members inside, some of the party supplies strewn out in the living room, and bowls of fruit everywhere—none of which was an apple. Applejack saw lemons, pineapples, bananas, pears…what was going on?
“SURPRISE!” everyone yelled in unison, headed by Pinkie, who was sitting in the front of the large group, right beneath a banner that said ‘Get Well Soon!’
Applejack was frozen from shock; she looked at Twilight, but the unicorn seemed just as surprised about the party as she was.
“Hey Twilight, hey Big Mac, hey Applejack!” Pinkie cheerily spoke as she skipped up to the three ponies. “Isn’t this great? I was so sad when you stormed off into your room, and that you might not even be able to go to your family’s own party tomorrow, so I went ahead and threw you a fruit party!—no apples included, of course!”
Applejack cocked an eyebrow as she continued to take in the view. “What?”
Apple Fritter stepped up from the crowd, looking guilty and avoiding eye-contact with Applejack. “Sorry I said anything earlier, cuz. It wasn’t right of me to snoop in your business.”
Remembering her attitude earlier, Applejack felt a wave of her own guilt sweeping over her. “No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have overreacted like that, Fritter.”
Pinkie bit her lip to try and suppress her massive grin. “I think hugs are in order!” she said, pulling the two ponies together; the two didn’t hesitate to take the advice, and promptly embraced, triggering a large ‘aww’ from everyone else. Pinkie then inched closer to Twilight, and spoke in a whisper. “Did you get anything from Dreamsnatcher? I don’t see her here…wait—is she invisible!?”
“Uh, no, Pinkie,” Twilight replied. “I did get a spell, but I’m not entirely sure if it’ll work. Actually, I’m pretty worried about using it.”
Applejack, overhearing the two’s conversation, ceased the long hug, the happy draining out from her. “Are you tryin’ t’ say that you don’t want to use the spell?”
Twilight didn’t say anything; she shuffled her front hooves and stared at the ground, all eyes on her. “…I don’t feel safe trying it on you, AJ. I don’t think I’m even going to try it.”
Everyone gave their own small versions of a gasp or gulp. Some ponies began to murmur between each other, some others gave Twilight dirty looks, and others looked on sadly at the crushed Applejack. Pinkie, however, grabbed a nearby pomegranate and took a large bite out of it casually. “Darn,” the pony replied.
“Pinkie!” Twilight exclaimed, “You could at least act like you’re concerned about Applejack! I’m far too worried that something bad might happen if I try the spell—it’s not worth the risk!”
“No, no, Ah understand, Twi,” Applejack said in the least reassuring voice Twilight had ever heard.
“I suppose it’s a good thing I helped!” Pinkie piped up as she consumed the rest of the juicy red fruit. “No need to fear, Jackie—I have reason to believe that you aren’t allergic to apples anymore!”
“She’s not allergic, Pinkie,” Twilight retorted, “the problem is that she’s—”
“Yeahyeah, psherclogy and other mind-science,” Pinkie interrupted the unicorn. “Either way, I’m pretty sure Jackie’s already fixed! It was all in your head, anyway.”
“What in tarnation are you goin’ on about, Pink?” Applejack asked, saying what everyone else was thinking.
Pinkie put on a pair of thick, professor-like lenses that she had apparently pulled out of thin air. “Well, my dear Jackie, the problem with your conditioner was that it made you think you were sick. All I had to do was make you uh-soap-ciate—”
“Associate,” Twilight replied.
“Shh, Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Not when I’m revealing my Batman Gambit!”
“Your…huh?”
“Anyway Applejack,” Pinkie continued, “Through the events of today I was able to flip your brain back to normal, by relying on one single thing—you. You were under the impression that apples make you sick; while this was the case for a while, it soon became entirely your own fault that you would become sick. All I have to do is convince you that you aren’t sick around apples, and you’ll be back to normal.” She grabbed a pear, examined it, and took a quick bite.
Applejack and Twilight stared, dumbfounded, at the pink pony. “Who are you and what have you done to Pinkie Pie,” Twilight flatly stated.
“And how’re you s’posed to convince me that my problem’s all in mah head?” Applejack rebutted. “It’s not all in my head, Pinkie!”
“And that’s where you’re wrong, my little Jackie,” Pinkie said matter-of-factly. “Apples are your life, and that’s how I knew your subconscious would still react normally! What I did was assoshriate apples with happiness and fun! The reason why my chimicherrychanga didn’t erupt in flames like previous times? It was because I tried a new recipe—one that called for apples, not cherries.”
The news made Applejack flinch, but she didn’t feel sick to her stomach. “You’re just pulling my chain, right? You’re just jokin’ around.”
“And then, to a lesser extent,” Pinkie continued, “There was the shiny apple magnet that was the center point of our board game—which, by the way, I absolutely LOVE to play!” Pinkie broke from her formal tone when she made the mention, but quickly regained herself. “I didn’t choose the most important game piece to be an apple, Jackie—YOU did.”
Several, confused thoughts were going on in Applejack’s mind. 'Is she serious? She can’t be…can she?'
“And FINALLY,” Pinkie suddenly spoke up, making everyone jump, “There was our game of hide-and-seek.”
“There were no apples in our game, Pink,” Applejack cockily replied. “All we did was hide around the house.”
“…But didn’t you find it strange how good you were at finding me?” Pinkie asked, leaning in on Applejack, daring her to realize what she’d done. As Applejack’s eyes widened, Pinkie elaborated. “I heard once at Canterlot that some fancy ponies put cake frosting behind their ears. I did that today, only with applesauce; you found me so well because you were using your nose!”
Everyone was speechless. Pinkie consumed the rest of the pear—core and all—and rejoined the crowd of Apples, all of whom were staring at her with gaping mouths. Everyone turned in unison from the once-again-giddy Pinkie Pie, to the astonished Applejack.
“Well, AJ?” Twilight asked cautiously. “How do you feel?”
Applejack took a deep breath and looked at the closed front door behind her. “Only one way to find out.” She placed her hoof onto the face of the door, gave a firm push forward, and leapt to the outside like a pony plunging into a cold swimming pool. The crowd gave a single, loud gasp inward.
The Apple Family Bi-Annual Get-Together Celebration was going without a hitch. The entire Apple Family was already hyped up from yesterday, following Pinkie’s ‘Fruit Party’ for Applejack, and after the sick orange mare discovered that she was no longer sick. Everyone was gathered, having a blast outside the house, surrounded by friends and family. Applejack specifically couldn’t be happier, enjoying every activity outside in the orchard with all of her family members. As Twilight watched on the sidelines at Applejack competing in a roping contest with some of her cousins, Pinkie popped up next to her.
“Hey Pinkie,” Twilight said happily, then cut right to the chase. “I gotta admit, what you did yesterday…well, I’m still shocked.”
“You look a lot better than me when I’m shocked, then,” Pinkie replied. “When I get shocked, my mane gets all frizzy and static-y.”
Twilight giggled at her friend’s obliviousness. “Oh, Pinkie… But, I have to ask: your plan, I mean, it was amazing. Did you really plan all of that?”
Pinkie blew a raspberry in the air in disagreement. “What, are you kidding? I made all of that up!”
“WHAT?!”
“Yeah!” Pinkie hummed, “That thing about the apples in my changas and the sauce on my ears? I made that up on the spot, right after you said you couldn’t perform the spell! Remember when I said that all I needed to do was convince Jackie that apples didn’t get her sick? That’s all I had to do, and that’s what I did!” Pinkie beamed at the confused unicorn. “Oh, but please Pinkie-Promise me you won’t ever tell anypony! It’s bad enough that I had to lie to her!”
“Uh, y-your secret’s safe with me,” Twilight assured, and shook her head in disbelief. “…Pinkie, sometimes I think that you’re honestly a genius, and don’t even realize it. To trick Applejack into setting herself back to normal…that reverse psychology was brilliant.”
“That reminds me,” Pinkie added, getting Twilight’s attention. “I was talking about this with Jackie yesterday: can pegasi fly because they’re really fat? Because fat’s lighter than muscle, so that means that it floats, right?”
Dear Princess Celestia:
Today I’ve learned what “mind over matter” really means for me. If you’re under the impression that you have a problem that you can’t fix yourself, it isn’t going to get fixed. While a problem may not be entirely in your head, a large part of it can be, and it’s this state of mind that won’t allow you to make any progress. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that, no matter how bad the situation, you should always enter it with a positive outlook, and if you think nothing good is going to happen, nothing good IS going to happen.
Your faithful subject,
Applejack
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Final chapter finally in!
WHOO-HOO! I'VE FINISHED A FANFIC!
Feedback is much appreciated, so don't be afraid to comment!
Pinkie: Oblivious Genius.
awww now that was a great story
RAINBOW DASH, FLUTTERSHY, AND DERPY HOOVES IN UNISON: PINKIE, ARE YOU CALLING US FAT!!!!!
Yay PInkie haha nice 4th wall breaking.
Nice. I likey
DAT PINKIE
P.S. Don't ever get on Pinkies bad side, she might take over equestria.
676652
Dude, she summoned up the entire crowd of Ponyville with just her voice, and made them sing her "Smile" song.
And that's just with her voice.
676703
I'm more terrified of her re-wiring Celestia's brain to think that she's in love with Discord and would like to rule over the world with him, creating endless cotton candy chocolate raining clouds for Pinkie to enjoy.
nice
676269 I submitted this story to EqD once, and the prereader said that s/he didn't feel my conditioning scenario in my story had much merit. At first, I believed them, until I read all the different stories that the readers have told about their own food problems. It's interesting, and kinda fun to read how and why people can't eat certain foods--though it's kinda disheartening to read how some people can't eat their favorite foods anymore.
676713 Hush! Don't give me any ideas...
LOVED this chapter!
When I got to the every-fruit-except-apple-party, I was like "D'awwww!"
When I got to Pinkie's first "reveal", I was like:
Then I got to the end part, and I was like:
Wonderful writesmanship!
Loved it. Good work.
Great chapter and great story!
Yet, I have one complain: Dreamcatcher.
What happened? I mean I though she was supposed to be important for the plot, but we met her and then... nothing, absolutely nothing, just another rude (and useless) canterlot mare.
I'm sorry, couldn't resist.
"When I get shocked, my mane gets all frizzy and static-y.”
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But anyway, great story.
677048 Basically, I decided to make the whole Dreamcatcher thing more of a red herring, as well as the spell, since Twi was to afraid to use it on AJ.
Originally, she was to be at least a semi-important plot point, but I then abandoned that idea for a much simpler one. Honestly, if I were to add "alternate ending" chapters, I could have several. Hell, I even had an idea (inspired by a comment) where Lyra comes in at the last second as a deus ex machina to successfully perform the mind spell.
677334
You made me google "red herring"
Now I know something new 
Anyway, but when did that decision came from? When you were writing this chapter, or just after she was introduced?
Dang, Pinkie's some kinda genius.
That completely sounds like something Pinkie Pie would do. She used reverse psychology without even doing anything other than saying she used reverse psychology.
Pinkie Pie can be scary sometimes.
>“Ugh…” Twilight groaned, “I think some of that old stallion’s B.O. on the train has attached itself to me. Here,” she shoved the top of her head into Big Mac’s face, “give me a whiff.”
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677407 Since I introduced Dreamcatcher at the end of the second chapter, I felt that I had to roll with it as I wrote the third. The time between writing each chapter was rather large, and even when I don't write, I still daydream constantly about what to do when I do write it. Even as I was writing the final chapter, I juggled several ideas about, and eventually decided that Dreamcatcher wasn't important enough to be a key character, so I dropped her out. I even lampshaded the fact when having her say “Hope you weren’t going for a climactic battle of wits.”
They say there's a fine line between Genius and Insanity. Looks like Pinkie found the white-out
Good work, Pinkie was brilliant, and I always love a good happy ending .
Also, since you said you found it interesting:
I cant stand pineapple, I can look at, I can tolerate the "stink", but whenever I eat it, I throw up. No idea why.
That was fun, and I like Pinkie's solution much more than the standard "magic fixes everything" conclusion.
Pinkie breaks the 4th wall to make a TvTropes reference!
Great job on ending the story! I really enjoyed it!
I loved the story and it definitely rings true for me, in part due to the fact that I have the same problem as twilight. Macaroni makes me physically ill every time I eat it and the scent of it can cause nausea. Love the portrayal of pinkie though because it stays true to the character and displays more of the fun loving but oblivious genius inside. Bring me more stories with a similar portrayal of Pinkie and I will be a very happy reader indeed. Have my thumbs, my eyes, and a star.
678418
We're doomed.
676751
Yeah, I would not trust those people to properly judge a story, way too much bias even if a lot is subconcious. This was an interesting read.
678069
So a last minute change hum? Interesting, and it did work out nicely.
Ha, I did felt something amiss about that phrase, a very subtle 4 wall breaking moment indeed.
681402
eeyup 
Good ending, Pavlov has been defeated by the power of pinkie!
Dat ending. EPIC STORY YOU'VE GOT HERE. 5 out of 5 mustaches.
I'm gonna favorite this just for the way you portrayed Pinkie
Granted, the story was absolutely amazing as a whole, but oblivious genius Pinkie is what sold it to me
Great story, and I'm now going to stalk you, or as fimfiction call it "watch".
677884 Yeah, I'm not really sure what was up with that scene XD
Good story though :)
739375 You just made my day. Kudos to you, good sir.
Nice closure on this story. I'm always a fan of Secret Genius Pinkie.
i'm a touch bummed you rewrote it so apples made her sick rather than a goofy version where she couldn't say apples just gibberish. Very cool stuff and here's to genius pinkie pie!
846488
That sounds like a wonderful story to read.
I have one issue with this wonderful story and it's actually not that big of a one.
When Twilight doubted her ability to perform the spell, I was kinda annoyed when she mentioned that the amount of magic needed for it may be to much for her to supply. That makes no sense to me because if Twi has anything going for her, it's that she has magic to fricking spare. Just a small issue, nothing more.
Good work, funny and original.
Why would you delete this?
