APPLESEEDS

Inspiration from 'Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul'
Rewritten by Sunrise Victory Shine

             A mare repeated a bit of gossip about a neighbor. Within a few days the whole community knew the story. The pony it concerned was deeply hurt and offended. Later, the woman responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise alicorn to find out what she could do to repair the damage.

"Go to Sweet Apple Acres." she said, "and purchase an apple, and take out all the seeds. Then on your way home, drop the seeds one by one along the road." Although surprised by this advice, the mare did what she was told.

The next day the wise alicorn said, "Now, go and collect all those seeds you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me."

The woman followed the same road, but to her dismay the wind had blown all the seeds away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.

"You see," said the alicorn, "it's easy to drop them, but it's impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It doesn't take much to spread a rumor, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong."