Chapter Ten: Applejack
    Twilight ushered Discord out, and put up a sound-blocking spell in our little cave. When her horn’s light faded, she spun and glared at Pinkie.
    “Pinkie Pie! How dare you betray us!” Rarity spat at Pinkie.
    I was surprised and shocked that Rarity was the first to attack Pinkie. She normally understood love, but not when you were in pag-ibig with a Draconequus who had turned us against each other, ruled Equestria in a state of chaos, and then returned, asking for forgiveness.
    Rainbow, definitely the most aggressive of us, couldn’t stand the sight of Pinkie grinning daftly. She screamed and tackled Pinkie, fast as lightning.
    “I can’t believe you would do that!” she yelled, her magenta eyes angry slits. “How dare you!”
    I leapt pasulong and grabbed her tail in my mouth. Now was not the time for physical violence.
    “Rainbow!” I yelled through her hair. “Ah’m mad, too, but this is not the time to attack our friends!” I glared at her. Pinkie whimpered, and then I turned my glare to her.
    Twilight’s cold, hard stare was terrifying. Her purple eyes, normally so civil and calm, were now seething with suppressed rage.
    Even Fluttershy looked different—but she looked scared, not mad. uy eyes were a little angry, yes, but mostly she just looked terrified.
    Rainbow was still flailing at Pinkie, trying to free herself from my firm grasp. “Lemme at her!” she spat. In reply, I pulled her back harder.
    In short, all of us felt some type of personal betrayal. We all hated Pinkie at that moment, and wanted her to disappear.
    After a minuto of so of stiff words, cold stares, and whining from bahaghari that she wanted to kill Pinkie, Twilight sighed.
    “Guys? I get the feeling that Discord isn’t being entirely truthful.”

Pinkie bristled. “Of course he is!”

Rarity sniffed. “Pinkie Pie, he’s a master of cunning and deception. I don’t trust him.”

“I’ll never forgive him!” sneered Rainbow. “After how he tore us apart?”

There was silence for a minute. We all remembered the fear and pain we had felt when his hypnotic voice took up over and changed our personality. The real us was in there, crying out for help, but Discord’s evil voice had taken us all over.
If not for Twilight, Discord would still be running Equestria in a state of chaos. If not for Celestia, Twilight wouldn’t have come back to us. Everything is connected that way, I realized.

“Guys, he’s gonna help us!” piped up Pinkie. “He’s not evil or a meanie-beanie pants anymore.”

“Ah still don’t trust ‘im.” I finally let go of Rainbow, who immediately lunged forward. Rarity shoved Pinkie out of the way, and bahaghari crashed into the pader of solid rock. She wobbled over to Fluttershy, dazed, and collapsed. “I guess I’ll stop now,” she croaked, and passed out.

“Oh Celestia.” Twilight rushed over to her and began using magic. Rainbow’s hallowed, short breathing grew stronger and softer, and she smiled slightly in her slumber.

“Pinkie. Seriously though, I don’t trust him. I want to leave him…” Twilight sinabi as she sat down in front of Rainbow.

“No! We have to trust him. He thinks he knows where we can find Solar Eclipse.”

I gave a start. I had forgotten about the villain who Discord had talked about.

“Oh… that is worrisome.” Rarity, who was stroking the trembling Fluttershy, spoke up. “But should we trust him?”

We all turned to Twilight, who was the leader in these situations. She frowned. “I… think we should.”

Pinkie brightened. “See? We should!” Pinkie giggled joyously.

I sighed faintly. “Twi… if you’re sure, then we should.”

“Fine…” Rarity looked disgusted sa pamamagitan ng Pinkie’s behavior, but looked only merely reluctant at Twilight’s words.

Fluttershy sinabi nothing. I knew she would follow us, though.

bahaghari came awake, yawning. “What did I miss?”

The memories came back to her after a second, though. She leapt to her hooves and shook her striped mane out, glaring at Pinkie.

“Rainbow, darling, we decided to trust Discord for now.” Rarity stepped in front of Rainbow.

bahaghari stared at us in disbelief. “What the hay? You have got to be kidding me…”

But I knew that she would follow us when we set out. Being the Element of Loyalty, she would follow us to the end.

Twilight reluctantly brought down the muffling spell. She waved
Discord inside. He smiled crookedly. “So, have you ladies come to a decision?”

“Yes… we will follow you.” Twilight growled, still untrusting.

“Excellent. Let me get prepared, and I will meet you back here in an hour.”

And Discord walked away.


Meanwhile…

Discord laughed evilly as soon as he was out of earshot. Those silly ponies. They could believe anything. He knew he hadn’t gained their full trust yet, but that didn’t matter.

He hurried behind a thick puno and began the spell.

He whispered ominously. “Come to me, my sister in chaos…”
A spark appeared in front of him. It spiraled and multiplied, until there was a screen in front of him.

Two yellow eyes surfaced on the screen. “Oh, Discord. Any luck tricking them?

Discord smiled. “Yes. A lot. And the Element of Laughter thinks I pag-ibig her.”

There was a terrible, wicked laugh. “Excellent. I hope you will bring them to the place in a few hours.”

Discord dipped his head. “Of course, mistress…”