History: Tree of Harmony · 3:13pm Sep 5th, 2021

Hiya, lovely students!

Welcome to Equestrian History 101! I’m your teacher, Prof. Naimat, and today, we’re going to learn about the Tree of Harmony! Let’s begin.

A millennium ago, a group known as the Pillars of Old Equestria protected the kingdom from harm. The group consisted of Earth ponies Rockhoof and Mage Meadowbrook, pegasi Flash Magnus and Somnambula, and unicorns Mistmane and Starswirl the Bearded. They were brought together by a young unicorn scholar, Stygian. But Stygian himself felt as though he did not get enough respect and recognition for the work he did.

”But I didn't have magic or strength, so nopony ever noticed me.”
~ Stygian

So he stole the Pillars’ magical artifacts and went to Ponehenge in an attempt to copy them. The Pillars caught and confronted him. Believing Stygian to have betrayed them, the Pillars cast him out. He embraced the darkness - quite literally - and turned into the Pony of Shadows! The Pillars, not knowing what else to do, prepared to banish him to Limbo. But this action would banish the Pillars, too. Before they left, each pony infused a crystal seed with their magical essences and planted it in the caves below the Castle of the Two Sisters. The seed was intended to grow into a force powerful enough to protect the realm in the Pillars’ absences.

The seed grew into a sapling, and from that sapling a tree. The Tree of Harmony!

Time passed, and soon enough, the tree bore its fruits: the Elements of Harmony. Six Elements were created: honesty, kindness, loyalty, laughter, generosity and magic. The Elements powered the Tree, and the Tree used this power to keep the ever-growing Everfree Forest from invading the rest of Equestria.

The Elements were then plucked off the tree by Princesses Celestia and Luna, a pair of Alicorn sisters, to help them defeat the Spirit of Chaos, Discord. The Elements were used to seal Discord in stone and were then kept inside the sisters’ home, the Castle of the Two Sisters. Before his imprisonment, however, Discord planted plundervine seeds to slowly kill the Tree. Shortly after, Princess Luna succumbed to darkness and turned into Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia, with little other choice, reluctantly used the Elements to banish her sister in the moon itself. The Elements were abandoned in the castle in the Everfree Forest when Celestia moved to Canterlot.

A thousand years later, Nightmare Moon escaped from her prison and returned to Equestria to create everlasting night. A unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, personal protégé of Princess Celestia, set out into the forest to retrieve the discarded Elements. She was accompanied by a group of mares who were later discovered to embody the spirits of the Elements, with Twilight herself representing the Element of Magic.

“Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of Honesty! Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of Kindness! Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of Laughter! Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of Generosity! And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart’s desire represents the spirit of Loyalty!”
~ Twilight Sparkle

The Elements latched on to the six ponies, taking the forms of their Cutie Marks, and were used to bring back Princess Luna. The Elements were then brought to the new castle in Canterlot for safekeeping. But then Discord broke out of his stone prison and stole the jewels, hiding them in Twilight’s home in Ponyville. After a lot of strife, the Bearers were able to use the Elements to seal Disord back in stone.

The next time the Elements were used was when Princess Celestia decided to reform Discord. The Bearers used the jewels to free Discord and he befriended Fluttershy, the spirit of Kindness. From then on, the Elements were kept in Golden Oak Library, Twilight’s home in Ponyville. A while later, Celestia mailed Starswirl’s spellbook to Twilight, asking her to complete his “unfinished masterpiece”. Twilight unwittingly cast the spell and switched her friends’ Cutie Marks. The spell was undone when Twilight made them realize the true meaning of their friendship. With this revelation, she was able to complete the spell:

In the meantime, Discord’s plundervines has successfully taken over the Tree of Harmony, slowly killing it. Without the Tree’s magic, the Everfree Forest invaded Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle, now an Alicorn Princess, realized that the only way to restore the tree was to give it back the Elements. The jewels were sacrificed and the Tree’s magic restored. At the roots of the Tree, sprouted a hexagonal chest with six locks, the Chest of Harmony.

For the next few months that followed, each of the Bearers faced a situation where living up to their element proved a tough task. But when they do embrace their element, it inspired someone else to do the same, and each of the Bearers received a gift in return. The group realized this and those gifts became the keys. When the chest was opened, it unleased a massive amount of magic that enabled the girls to defeat a magic-stealing villain, Tirek, who has previously destroyed Golden Oaks. The chest then buried itself into the outskirts of Ponyville, sprouting Twilight’s new home: the Castle of Friendship!

The castle’s throne room contained seven thrones, one for each Bearer and one for Spike, Twilight’s dragon adoptive brother. When the group all sat on the thrones at the same time, a large circular table appeared, the Cutie Map, a sparkling holographic map depicting all of Equestria. Whenever a friendship problem appears in the land, the Cutie Marks of the ponies concerned would point them in the desired location.

Afterwards, the group set out to free the Pillars from Limbo using their magical artifacts and the power of Ponehenge. The Pillars returned, along with the Pony of Shadows. The Elements were extracted from the Tree to be used in a banishment spell. But when confronted with the Pony of Shadows, the Bearers and the Pillars freed Stygian from the darkness and sent it back to Limbo.

Much later, an army led by the Storm King then attacked Canterlot, forcing the Bearers to seek help beyond the borders of Equestria, where they quickly realized that friendship isn’t everywhere. As a result of their adventure, the Map expanded and Princess Twilight was inspired to open the School of Friendship. The Tree of Harmony, whose magic is constantly growing and evolving, created a secret entrance underneath the school. It was discovered by the school’s students.

This groups of students consisting of griffon Gallus, dragon Smolder, hipogriff Silverstream, yak Yona, changeling Ocellus and Earth pony Sandbar, had their friendship tested by the Tree’s spirit, who took of a glowing Twilight Sparkle. The cave was also discovered by another student, pegasus Cozy Glow, who had nefarious intentions. She used the cave as a lair to absorb all magic from the land, but the Tree interfered, and, with the help of the aforementioned group of friends, put a stop to Cozy’s evil plans.

“Long story short, friendship is in our nature. The Tree said so.”
~ Smolder

Unfortunately, King Sombra, former tyrant who ruled the Crystal Empire, cam back to seize control of the kingdom. The Bearers once again extracted the Elements from the Tree and used it to defeat him. This turned out to be a trap, however. As soon as the Elements were put back in the Tree, Sombra destroyed it! The Tree of Harmony; the most magical entity in Equestria; who had been around for centuries was destroyed.

But the Tree was not quite dead. Despite its apparent destruction, the Spirit of Harmony called on the group of friends who had defeated Cozy. It asked the six friends to use to work together to honor the Tree’s spirit. This display of the Magic of Friendship allowed the Tree to grow into a new form, the Treehouse of Harmony.

”The spirit of the Treehouse would have perished without your selfless deeds and caring. Whenever you seek solace, come here. Your friendship, and the friendship of future generations, will always be safe within these walls.”
~ Tree of Harmony

And that’s it, students! See you next class!