A single seed

Twilight woke up after a night of senseless dreams. She felt hardly relaxed. The misadventures of her mind during her period of rest still roamed around in her head. She dismissed them without looking for meaning and clumsily rose to her hooves.

The whispers from the day before resumed.

You are alone... Your friends have left you for their own affairs...

"Where's this dragon when you need him?"

"You called?" Spike's head popped up from the door. "He actually reacts to that?" Twilight thought. "You have no idea how grumpy you can get in the morning." The assistant explained.

"What's the schedule for today?"

"Oh, you know, the usual stuff. Find Applejack, get everypony back to normal, stop Discord."

"Awesome. If I'm quick, we'll have the afternoon off. Bye." She stormed out of the library.

"Applejack?" Twilight was once again at the Acres.

"Hello there sugar. Time to reharmonise?" The earth pony suddenly appeared behind Twilight as she called for her. Pinkie Pie would be proud.

Twilight jumped a small distance. "Uh, yes. But before we start... AJ, things just don't add up. What really happened between you and Rainbow?"

"Ah don't want to talk about it. Not now. Can't this wait until later?"

"That's what Dash told me. But 'later' won't be any different unless you help me figure out what's blocking everypony! He'll have free reign if he doesn't even have to do anything against us because we stop ourselves!"

"But it was nothing important, jus'... fixing a time fer the next contest. Ya know, us constantly competing against each other?"

"Applejack, even when you want to lie, you're a terrible liar. Perhaps... Did you feel any influence from him? Strange behavior? Whispers in your mind?"

"Why, Ah did hear some strange whispers. Honest truth now. They told me nothing Ah didn' already know, though."

"Maybe... Just to make sure." Twilight prepared a spell and lowered her horn onto Applejack.

"Save yerself the trouble, sassy. Ah can remember everythin' jus' fine."

"But then... How can you lie to me about something this important?"

"Sometimes, the truth simply is hard to take. Shouldn't we be doing something important now?"

"Okay, if you don't want to tell me voluntarily, I'll MAKE you help me. Stand still, and make sure my body remains safe."

Applejack twitched and fought the rising urge to run away, but found magical shackles binding her to the ground. Twilight was determined to bring that spell through. "What in tarnation are you..."

Through high concentration in spellcasting, Twilight spoke. "I said, I'll make you help me. Don't worry, we'll be fine. I think. As soon as I'm done, the bindings will release. Bring me to Ponyville in the meantime."

"But what..." Before Applejack could ask any further, the unicorn collapsed before her. Her eyes were moving, but didn't seem to react to outer impulses. "Oh well. Might as well do what she said..."

Twilight stirred little after Applejack had carried her back to the library and made herself at home there.

"That sure was something..."

"Sugarcube? Mind telling me what exactly you did?"

"Only what I told you I did. Oh, looking back at it, I'm sorry for the rude approach, but it worked out, I think. I would never have imagined that'd have happened. This changes everything."

"What now?"

"Applejack, you can stop hiding your feelings from me now. I used some mostly safe, experimental magic to see everything. I can understand why you're acting like that, I'd do too."

The earth pony turned to hide her tears. "Yes. Did you... see my feelings too?"

Twilight shook her head. "I only moved through your memory. I might have been able to see exactly how you're feeling, but why don't you tell me that? You started lying... right after she asked, right?"

"Darn, yes! I just couldn't take the truth. I couldn't be honest, even if I had to hurt Rainbow Dash. Why did I have to do that? Why did I hurt both of us, when true joy was just around the corner?"

"I don't know, but you know what? It doesn't matter! We can fix all of this now... Wait, the whispers are gone. Did Discord give up?"

"Now that you mention it, they sure are. 'Everypony welcomes the truth... If you can handle it.', ha, my rump!"

"Same plan as before, only successful?"

"You bet! Start with Pinkie, work down the line, defeat Discord. Easy four part plan. Don't you use yer fancy mathematics to muddle the issue!" She added the last sentence just as Twilight had opened her mouth to correct.

"Pinkie, a word. Please." The two were at the Sugarcube Corner, cornering Pinkie Pie.

"Alright, if you must. Let's go to the kitchen." Her hair had deflated just a bit more and an attentive pony might spot her losing a bit of color. The same had happened to Applejack, however they were all confident that she was in her right mind and would regain those colors before sundown.

"Thanks. Um, Pinkie, listen. I know many things have been said and done that may make you feel like your talents are misplaced, but they ain't! There're no situation where a little laugh won't help. Not even an unexpected confession of love..."

Pinkie hushed her. "Didn't we make this our secret, for both of us? Twilight's gonna hear!"

"I am right next to you, in case you didn't notice."

"Besides, she knows everything. Just puttin' away your problems deep down somewhere they're gonna eat you up from ain't the way to deal with'em Pinkie. You have to stand up tall, learn to face your fears. You'll see that they can't hurt you..."

"Just laugh and make them disappear. You know, you're right. What was I doing, all soaked up in boring self-doubt? Sadness is nothing that's gonna solve itself without a little laughter! Whee, let's go!" Pinkie bounced out of the bakery, back in full colors.

"That sure WAS easy. Let's hope it's the same with all of the others."

"Won't. We don't know what has really happened between them, so it's either find out, for which we need Dash... or try to cure them with what we do know. Either way, it'll be tricky. What do you want?"

"Do I have to face RD right now?" Applejack wasn't sure if she could face the truth already.

"It's probably the best way. She might really jump if we don't hurry."

"Jump? Oh, she's been doing Leaps some time now, she'll be..."

"No wings."

"Oh no! Find her, right now!" Both ponies stormed ouside.

"On it. I knew that gem was a good idea, we'd have to search her all over town. Strange, I've sent a signal, but the resonance shows her at a distance where she'd have to be here already. Like, on that cloud up there."

"Did it occur to you that she might BE on that cloud?"

"Rainbow? Are you up there?" Twilight called up. There was no response. "Is she napping or hiding? Rainbow, come down, or I'll come up to you! I've got AJ here with me! She's got something to tell you!"

"Go away! You might find it funny to come back and hurt me more, but I've realised I need you for nothing. Give me a reason I should come down." The cloud suddenly responded.

"How about eternal happiness with the mare of your dreams?" Applejack shouted. Rainbow Dash was halfway to another cloud, when the words struck her. She dropped down almost immediately.

"What did you say?"

Twilight intervened. "Let's get you girls some privacy, no? Come on, library, right over there."

Rainbow Dash didn't need privacy, she wanted to sort those things out right there and then. But Applejack was already galloping towards the hollow tree, so she followed.

Things didn't go as easy as planned. Dash had a counter for every argument Applejack had.

"You told me days ago! What has changed so much?"

"As I said, I don't need any of you. What tells me you're not just fooling me so we can stop Discord?"

"Would Ah hurt my beloved pony like that?"

"You already did once. As soon as this is over, you'll leave me, I know it."

"Not 'til death do us part, sweet."

"Suicidal, now?"

Applejack groaned in annoyance. "Twilight, got any help for convincing this stubborn little peggy over here?"

The unicorn looked up from the book she had at least been pretending to read. She had been within earshot all the time. "Magic doesn't hold the answer for everything. You'll have to solve this on your own, unless... Dash, is there something that's got nothing to do with AJ that makes you behave like that?"

"Maybe. Do you want to mob me for my foalhood, too?"

"Alright, that's it. You've had your fun, but I'm ending it here. Hold still, and you won't be hurt. Applejack, prepare yourself."

"Hey hey hey, what are you doing? Stop it!" Rainbow's survival instincts kicked in, but Applejack held her down.

"Don't you go kill yourself while we're gone."