Conflicting Love

"So what do you girls think the rest of his riddle meant?" Rarity asked as they made their way to the dark castle Discord had created.

"I don't know," Twilight admitted. "I may be smart but I've never been great with riddles. You girls remember the first time we faced Discord and how far off I was on his riddle."

"Yeah but you figured it out, so you can probably do it again," Rainbow assured.

"I guess. The first line said that to find what we need we must not quarrel or fight. I guess that would mean we need to work together to get the elements to work."

"I'm not sure if it will be that easy. Have you girls seen how focused and angry Applejack is right now? She looks like she'll actually try to kill Discord if she gets the chance," Rainbow said.

"Well she has been going through a lot and he does have her little sister. She's just really stressed," Fluttershy pointed out.

"Didn't you hear what she said? She was the reason Applebloom ran away."

"But she feels super sorry for hurting her like that. She didn't do it on purpose," Pinkie said stepping into the conversation.

"Y'all know that I can hear you right?" Applejack asked ahead of them.

"Um, sorry?" Twilight said sheepishly.

"Well at least I myself can feel satisfied knowing that Sweetie Belle is safely at home doing her homework and chores as I instructed her to do," Rarity said.

Just after she spoke the mane six heard rustling in a nearby bush. "D-did that bush shake?" Fluttershy asked scared.

"Who's there? Come on show yourselves," Rainbow demanded.

For a moment everything was still as the group waited for whatever was inside of the bush but it seemed to stop moving. "It was probably just a small bird or a squirrel," Twilight said.

"Squirrel?" Pinkie asked staring at the bush intensely.

Rainbow looked at the bush herself for a few seconds before tackling the bush causing a few sounds of pain. The others looked to see none other than Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "Sweetie Belle what are you doing here instead of being home where you should be and how did you get here?" Rarity asked furious.

"I, uh, well," Sweetie was too nervous to say anything until Scootaloo stepped in.

"It was my fault, we were really concerned about Applebloom since she had been gone for so long and we overheard you all talking at the treehouse getting ready to go here and I had the idea that if anypony could find Applebloom it would be Princess Celestia. So I convinced Sweetie Belle to come with me on my scooter to follow you," Scootaloo explained but the glare didn't leave Rarity's face.

"Nonetheless Sweetie you should have stayed home like I said. You two shouldn't be here right now."

"But we really want to help get Applebloom back," Sweetie insisted.

"I'm sorry but this isn't a child's game."

"But isn't hide and seek a kid's game?" Pinkie asked.

"Please Rarity at least don't be mad at Sweetie Belle for this. It was all my idea," said Scootaloo.

Rarity was silent for a moment as she pondered on what she should do but simply let out a reluctant sigh. "Well since there really isn't any way for us to send you home I guess you can help but you need to stay close to us."

"Yes," the two fillies said in unison.

"But when we get home you will be grounded for disobeying me Sweetie."

"Okay sis," Sweetie said hanging her head.

"That goes for you too squirt," Rainbow said to Scootaloo.

"Alright let's see if we can get our cutie marks by finding Applebloom," Scootaloo said.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PONY FINDERS, YAY."

"Fluttershy dearie how ever can you stand their shrieks?" Rarity asked.

"Oh it really isn't a bother, they're just having fun is all."

"So how can we help? Do we get to fight a monster?" Scootaloo asked pumped.

"Like I said before you two will be staying close to us and help when we see fit and most importantly behave. Is that understood?" Rarity asked getting two nods from the fillies.

"We promise we'll be on our best behavior," they both said as they ran over to Applejack. "Hi Applejack."

"Hey you two, what's up?" She asked still focusing on getting to the castle.

"Did Applebloom really tell you?" Sweetie asked.

"Were you two eavesdropping on us in the throne room?"

"No," Scootaloo said causing Applejack to raise an eyebrow. " Okay maybe a little. We only heard right before the thing in the windows came scaring Sweetie Belle."

"I wasn't scared, I was just startled," Sweetie said.

"Sure you weren't," Scootaloo said sarcastically. "You ran down the hall and was on the floor shaking. She turned back to Applejack. "The only other thing we heard was the riddle I promise."

"So do you know where she is?" Sweetie asked.

"Well we believe she's in this here castle thanks to Discord."

"Discord? I thought that sounded familiar. Miss Cheerilee told us about it on a field trip to the garden once," Sweetie said.

"So why has Applebloom been gone?" Scootaloo asked.

"She ran away because of me."

"She told you didn't she?" Sweetie asked though it sounded more like a statement.

"... Yeah she did. But all I did was treat her like some kind of disease."

"You don't hate her for it do you?" Sweetie asked.

"... Of course not. No matter what she does she's still my little sister. I've had so much guilt for what I did that I could barely eat, sleep, or work. But once we find her I'm going to apologize and bring her home."

"So you do like her?" Scootaloo asked.

No was what she wanted to say but strangely she couldn't make the word leave her mouth. Before she could think of anything, they all found themselves in front of the dark copy of Celestia's castle.

"Cool and spooky," Pinkie said.

"Yeah, spooky," Fluttershy agreed looking up at the higher part of the castle.

"Alright let's get in there and take Discord down," Rainbow said.

"It doesn't seem like we can. There's no way to open the door," Twilight said. And she was right, there was no door knob or switch or anything.

"Great, how are we supposed to get in?" Applejack asked. She was answered with Fluttershy vanishing in a light startling everypony.

"Where'd she go?" Sweetie asked.

"Discord has to be doing this. He's splitting us all up like last time," Twilight said.

Before anypony could react, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie vanished. Then Scootaloo, then Twilight, then Rarity and Sweetie Belle. All that was left was Applejack who simply stood ready for Discord to teleport her inside.

"You're not getting in just yet," Discord said behind her.

"What do you want?" Applejack asked glaring at the spirit.

"That will be revealed in good time but for now I'm going to simply tell you this," he said as he walked over to Applejack. "You will never get Applebloom out of here."

"Is that some kind of threat?"

"No it's a fact. The only way that you can get her out is if she asks me to let her which she can't do until you solve the last part of my riddle. But even when you do, I doubt you'll give it to her," he said as he laid down on a cloud he conjured up.

"I'll do whatever it takes to get her back."

"Even if it means getting ridiculed by your friends?"

"... Yes."

"Well we'll have to see about that now won't we?"

"How much longer are you going to stall before I can go in and get my sister back?"

"In a rush are we? Don't you know that good things come to those who wait? Quite frankly I doubt that you will even be able to figure out what the last part of the riddle means anyway let alone give it to her."

"I don't even have anything with me so how can I give whatever it is to her?"

"Oh but you do have it with you Applejerk, you just don't realize it yet."

"Let. Me. In."

Discord let out a sigh as he twirled his lion paw in the air. "Your wish is my command. Though I doubt that Applebloom will even want to go back with you when you find her."

"And what do you know? You're just a monster," she said glaring at the spirit who returned it. If looks could kill she would have been incinerated on the spot.

"What do I know? Who was the one who actually comforted Applebloom when she needed it? Me. Oh and I'm a monster?! Why don't you look in a mirror Applejerk. When your sister needed you the most, you pushed her down as though she were just a bug. Oh and by the way, unless you learn to express true honesty then you will never get your sister back. So Arrivederci."

And with that he snapped his fingers making Applejack vanish. Once she was gone he began to laugh. "Everything is going according to plan. Now which element should I visit first?" Discord simply shrugged and made himself vanish.

AN: Wow I got another chapter done in just one day. Hope you all enjoyed it.