"Meat puppets," as Sir Win described them, were actually a lot less grotesque than they sounded, provided Applejack didn't think about it too hard. It was very strange to think about creating doubles of herself out of, ah, excess protein.

It made orchard work go faster, however. Applejack just had to make sure nopony else saw.

"AJ, why is there a duplicate of you?"

"Consarnit, Big Mac! You weren't supposed to find out!"

Her older brother stared at her impassively.

Applejack lowered her head, hiding her face behind her hat. "It's a long story."

Mac nodded and walked away.

Applejack breathed easier. Her brother wasn't much for conversation, and for that she blessed him. He of all ponies probably took in stride better than anypony all the strange happenings around town. Heaven knew it was a major epicenter of weird, as Twilight described it.

With chores done early thanks to an extra set of hooves, Applejack decided to go to town. Maybe seeing some friends would make things a little more normal for her. Putting a meat puppet to work was not what she wanted to think about right now.

Despite having her workload reduced, Applejack still perspired. Mopping her brow, she stopped by the farm well to wash her face before heading on.

Drifting into town, Applejack had a look around. She didn't spot anypony she particularly wanted to talk to. Passing by the pub, the Half Pint, she paused, smelling something pleasant.

She'd rarely been in the pub. It wasn't really her kind of place, although it was becoming a popular destination in Ponyville. The combination of innovative food and beverages had something to do with it.

Guinness was behind the bar when Applejack walked in. He spotted her and waved a hoof, beckoning her over. Applejack sat on a stool in front of him, resting her hooves on the bar.

"What can I get you?" Guinness asked.

Applejack perused the menu for a moment. She shrugged. "What's good?"

"How about a bacon lettuce and tomato?"

Applejack frowned. "I've heard Valiant talk about bacon."

"Nah, this is bacon lettuce. Totally vegan but still tasty."

Applejack shrugged and nodded.

"Squibles, BLT!" Guinness called to his griffon business partner. He turned back to Applejack. "You want a beer with that?"

Applejack knew enough to ask for water instead.

The sandwich was apparently easy to assemble and arrived on a plate in just a few minutes. Applejack picked it up and took an experimental bite. She smiled. "It's good."

"It should be," Guinness said proudly. "I put a lot of work making it taste just like the real thing."

"So this is what bacon tastes like? Pig meat?"

"That's right."

Applejack frowned and put the sandwich down.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Guinness asked. "It's not real."

"Just...guilty."

Guinness looked around and then leaned on the bar to talk with her quietly. "Do you want to talk about it? It's kind of my job as the bartender to listen."

"I just..." Applejack sighed. "I wish I could go back and not do what I did."

"But then you'd have starved to death."

Applejack's head sank. "I know. I just wish I could put it behind me, but there's no going back. I'm different."

Guinness had noticed Applejack's recent bulk up. Rainbow wouldn't stop talking about it. Plus, he had been there when one of AJ's doubles had saved Twilight's life.

"I think the worst part is the sweating," Applejack said, surprising him. "I sweat a lot easier now. Sometimes it's like I don't even stop sweating."

Guinness frowned in thought. "You started sweating after you ate pony?" He snapped his hoof. "I've got it: it's the meat sweats."

"The what?" Applejack's brow wrinkled. "Also, how did you do that with your hoof?"

"Do what?"

Applejack shook her head. "Nevermind."

She looked at the sandwich for a moment before picking it up again. She was hungry, and even if it was bacon-y, it induced less guilt than actually eating meat.

Sir Win walked in at that moment. He spotted Applejack and came over. "Hello there. I've come to find you because I need your expertise."

Still chewing, Applejack raised her eyebrows.

"You see," said Sir Win, "Fluttershy is an earth pony."

Applejack frowned.

"I believe she ate Discord."

Applejack choked on her sandwich.

"Fluttershy did what?" Guinness asked, hitting Applejack on the back.

"As I said." Sir Win paused in thought. "Do you remember the place outside of town where Discord was killed? Er, I suppose with Discord you can't really be certain. I should say, 'where Valiant staked Discord through the heart with a tent peg.'"

"Yeah, I was there," said Guinness.

Finished choking, Applejack added, "Yep."

"It was also around that general area that Valiant subsequently took a giant ship on Tirek," added Sir Win. "In an attempt to beautify the area, Fluttershy has been going out there to reseed the ground. She also planted a vegetable garden. And somehow, Discord ended up on her salad plate."

"Wait a sec," said Applejack. "If Fluttershy ate Discord, and presumably absorbed his chaos powers, then why did she just turn into an earth pony?"

Sir Win shrugged. "I don't know anything about it. I'm evil, not chaotic."

"I reckon we should call Twilight and then maybe get the Princesses involved." Applejack stood up and left some money for the still partially-eaten sandwich. She and Sir Win headed for the library.

When they arrived and explained the situation to Twilight, she was understandably upset. "Discord isn't dead?"

"He might not be," Applejack clarified.

Twilight groaned. "I mean, I never agreed with the whole idea of Valiant murdering things, but I get very frustrated when I something I thought I knew for a fact turns out to be inaccurate."

"Well, he did comment on how nothing in Equestria said to be forever ever actually is forever," noted Sir Win. "Remarkably observant, that."

"Twilight where would you like me to file-" Bible walked out from behind a stack of shelves, but stopped abruptly. His eyes narrowed at Sir Win. "What's he doing here?"

"It's a public library," Twilight said. "Anypony can come in."

"What's he doing here?" said Sir Win.

"It's a public library," Twilight said. "Where else would you find a book?"

"We should get going," Applejack noted. "I'd say we need to get this solved as soon as possible."

It broke the moment and Sir Win agreed to come with her and Twilight. They set off for Fluttershy's place, where Sir Win had indicated that he had seen her.

Upon arrival, they found that Fluttershy was a unicorn.

"I thought you said she was an earth pony," Twilight said.

Sir Win shrugged. "If she changed into an earth pony, is it not conceivable that she could also change into a unicorn?"

"Um," said Fluttershy, "Pinkie, we have guests."

"So?" said Pinkie. "I'm not finished with your horn."

Applejack coughed and looked away from Pinkie and Fluttershy. "Uh, Pinkie, we're kinda trying to solve a mystery here. Could you maybe do that some other time?"

"But it's the first time Fluttershy has had a horn!" Pinkie pouted.

"Be that as it may, we have science to do," said Twilight. She glanced at the two of them and quickly looked away again. "So, could you two stop doing that for moment? Please?"

Pinkie and Fluttershy disengaged. Pinkie muttered something about needing a smoke and walked out of the house.

Twilight invited Fluttershy to sit and began asking her questions. "How did this happen? How do you feel? Did this have any effect on your special talent?"

"Um, it started after lunch; I think I ate something strange. I'm okay, relatively, I guess. And no."

To punctuate her last answer, a small songbird landed on Fluttershy's muzzle. She smiled and her eyes crossed to look at it. "Hello Mr. Sparrow."

The bird cheeped pleasantly and then took off again. The flit of its wings brushed across Fluttershy's nose and she sneezed.

Wings exploded from her back and her horn imploded into her skull.

Fluttershy fell out of the chair and looked dazed, lying on the floor.

"Oh my," commented Sir Win. He grabbed a nearby feather duster and said, "Let's see if that happens every time."

It did. Fluttershy began to cycle thorough the three most common pony races every time she sneezed.

"Okay, that's enough," Applejack finally said. "I don't know a lot about scientific method, but I reckon we have enough data. Now, how could this have happened?"

"As I said, I believe Fluttershy ate Discord," Sir Win stated.

"How do you know that?" Twilight asked.

"My carrot smiled at me," said Fluttershy.

"And you ate it anyway?" Applejack said.

"You ate ponies."

"Touché."

"So this is what we're doing now?" Twilight said. "We're making jokes about that?"

"I'm tired of justifying myself," said Applejack. "What I did was horrible and not even I can forgive myself, but I did it to save my life. Not only that, but all of you would hate to loose a friend, and I'm sure Equestria wouldn't want to lose an Element of Harmony. Valiant killed a pony and made me eat her. In return, I'm still alive and arguably more capable than before. I even used said new ability to save your life. I don't like it, but I'm learning to live with it and make the best of things. Least you could do is be a good friend while I figure it out."

"That was...astoundingly eloquent," Twilight said after a moment of thought.

Before Applejack could reply, there was a knock on the door. Sir Win was standing closest and opened it. It was Daisy, one of the mares who sold flowers in town.

"Is Fluttershy here?" she asked.

"May I ask your business with her?" Sir Win asked.

"She, um..." Daisy paused, flushing red. "I kind of want to be her slave and serve her forever."

"Hey, you too?" said Lilly, who showed up beside Daisy.

"You have to admit, being Fluttershy's property is pretty enticing," added Rose, appearing with the other two.

Sir Win turned his head, looking at Applejack, Twilight, and Fluttershy. It was hard to say who was the most surprised.

Applejack stepped forward, taking Sir Win's place at the door. "Just how did y'all come to this conclusion?"

"We were just discussing it over lunch," said Daisy.

"And where did you have lunch?"

"Oh, there's a vegetable garden outside of town."

Applejack looked at the others. "Are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

"I made this firebomb," said Fluttershy, holding up one of Valiant's tequila bottles with a piece of cloth for a wick.

"Sugarcube, that wasn't what I was thinkin'." Applejack shook her head, but then paused. "Although, I reckon it'll work."

Gesturing for the others to follow, Applejack pushed past the three mares at the door and headed down the path.

"Now what are you thinking?" asked Twilight, catching up.

"Step one is making sure nopony else eats anything from that garden," said Applejack. She glanced back, watching as Fluttershy uncomfortably attempted to tell Daisy, Lilly, and Rose that she did not own them.

"So we're going to burn it down?" Twilight guessed.

"Yep."

Twilight considered that. "Fluttershy wouldn't have made a molitov cocktail on her own. This must be the influence of Discord."

"You have to admit, it was useful. Now we don't have to worry about picking all those vegetables and figuring out how to dispose of them."

Twilight nodded. "So what's step two?"

"Well, if everything goes right, that should be it. We get rid of the stuff, and then Fluttershy's problem should be over."

"Nothing is ever that simple."

Applejack sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of."

They soon arrived at the garden and encouraged Fluttershy to set it on fire. Twilight set the wick alight with a spark from her horn and Fluttershy hurled the bottle into the patch of plants. They were all incinerated in a righteous fire of alcohol.

"That was a nice throw, master," complimented Daisy.

Frowning, Applejack commanded, "Fluttershy, look at the sun."

Fluttershy tipped her head back. Her pupils went tiny and her eyes started to water. After a moment, she sneezed.

She promptly changed races.

Twilight threw up her hooves. "Well, that didn't work."

"Got any ideas?" asked Applejack.

Twilight shook her head. "Maybe there's something in a book somewhere. Maybe I'll send a letter to the Princesses and get a vague reply in return. You know, the usual."

The group broke up for the day. Fluttershy went back to her house, still unsure what to do with her three new, completely willing, slaves. Twilight went back to the library. Sir Win returned to his lair. Applejack went back to the farm.

Big Mac was in the barn when she arrived. He was sawing some lumber, laid between the backs of two duplicates Applejack had left there for safekeeping.

He looked up as she came in. Taken aback, Applejack stared for a moment. She shook her head. "Puts a whole new meaning on the word 'sawhorses.'"