//------------------------------// // Learning the Eternal Truth // Story: The Last Lesson // by Misty Shadow //------------------------------// Sandbar, who was now wearing the pendant the Tree gave him, and his friends arrived at the Treehouse of Harmony where King Sombra awaited them, eerily smiling with glee.  “So you’re sincere in fighting me alone.” he laudibly remarked. “I commend your fighting spirit.”  “...?!” Gallus was taken aback, feeling no malice or insincerity in Sombra’s words. He did, however, sense great hostility inside Sandbar, who grimaced and growled at Sombra.  “Oh, I’m honored…” he told him facetiously. “...NOT!” Sombra laughed as he saw Sandbar’s eyes turn green.  “That’s how you return a compliment?” he joked. “I’d like to see how you return an insult now.” “Your words mean nothing to me!” Sandbar yelled as purple haze began to flow from his eyes and the elements on the pendant began to glow. “I don’t even care whether or not they’re true! You’re just a worthless piece of garbage meant to be thrown away, a stain on the world who could never amount to anything!” Smolder clenched her hand into a fist upon hearing that, recalling how looked down upon her unruly dragon culture was.  “So enough talk!” Sandbar cried as the elements left their slots, one each magically floating to Sandbar’s friends. “Everyone, take an element and focus your power so that we can finish this trash off once and for all!”  However, as each element moved to attach itself to each one of his scowling friends’ chests, it was rejected and repelled by a magic crackling of pink lightning. “Huh?” Sandbar said in astonishment. “But why…?”  “BECAUSE WE’RE NOT GOING TO SAVE THE DAY WITH YOU LIKE THIS!” Sandbar’s friends all collectively cried. “IS THIS WHAT YOU THINK THE TREE WOULD WANT?! FOR US TO WIN AGAINST EVIL BUT LOSE OURSELVES TO HATRED?!”  “What...no...this...can’t be…” Sandbar stuttered in disbelief, his mind ravaged by confusion. “The Tree wanted-GGGAAAHHH!”  Sandbar let out a cry as he began to float in the air, his green eyes exuding purple haze now turning white, as the elements his friends’ hearts rejected now gravitated towards him, forming a circle around him. Sandbar’s friends fearfully moved away from him.  “Woah…” Sombra thought, honestly impressed by the great power he sensed.  “How is this happening?!” Gallus yelled, worried by the growing power he could sense as well. “We rejected their hate-filled magic!” “Such a lust for revenge can’t be overwhelmed by one measly stand against evil.” Sombra explained with a devious smirk on his face. “And naive goody-goodies like you just can’t seem to figure it out no matter how many times you are shown the power of darkness...HATRED IS MAGIC! You can destroy me as many times as you like, but I’ll always return just as I am. Unlike your beloved Tree, which will forever be forced to change and decay! MWA HUA HUA HUA HUA!”  Sandbar’s friends gasped as they realized that this power would not only destroy Sombra...but the Treehouse of Harmony behind him.  “NO!” Sandbar’s friends screamed as they saw the elements charging up. “SANDBAR, STOP!”  “I..I...I CAN’T!” Sandbar shrieked as he realized that the immense power surging within him and the elements was evil. “NNNNNOOOOO!”  From Sandbar’s pendant, a giant beam of dark, chaotic magic was fired, razing everything in front of it and disrupting the soil. The blast ended when it hit the Treehouse of Harmony, causing the gigantic structure to disintegrate and become nothing but smoldering ash. Sandbar’s eyes returned to normal as he slumped to the ground, his pendant falling and shattering, the Elements of Chaos around him cracking and crumbling to pieces before they hit the ground as well. Immediately, Sandbar lifted his head up, the horror of what he had just done keeping him awake despite feeling drained.  “What have I done…?” Sandbar naturally asked as he saw the destruction he had caused.   “You...defeated Sombra, at least!” Silverstream exclaimed sheepishly.  “...” Gallus immediately sensed that something wasn’t right as Sandbar began to lament.  “WHAT DOES IT MATTER?!” he bellowed tearfully. “I DESTROYED THE VERY THING WE WERE FIGHTING FOR! I’M NOTHING NOW! I’M A LOSER! I’M TRA-”  “SANDBAR, MOVE!” Gallus yelled as he instantly flew towards his weeping friend and pushed him out of the way of a circle of dark crystals that were ready to erupt from the ground and trap him. With Gallus now trapped in Sandbar’s place, a cloud of dark smoke rose from the crystals and materialized as King Sombra.  “MWA HA HA HA HA!” he laughed evilly, as always. “You thought you beat me? Well, I’m afraid not! Though you deserve credit for such a magnificent display of true power, you forgot that I have much more open space here than I did when I was defeated at the castle! I hold the advantage over any outdoor terrain, being able to hide deep underground and avoid any powerful blast you may throw at me! In short, I’m invincible! AH HA HA HA HA!”  “CURSE YOU!” Smolder yelled as her friends went to comfort Sandbar. “Why are you doing this?!”  “To prove that my way is right, not yours.” Sombra answered cockily. “Just renounce this foolish creed of “friendship” and you will never have to worry about me again. You can start by dropping the act, ceasing to pretend that you care about that miserable excuse for a stallion you trusted as your leader.” “NEVER!” Smolder cried as she went over to her friends before they all looked over from Sandbar to Sombra with a stern glare. “You may as well kill us all right now, because we’d die before selling out our friend! Your darkness will never win over our hearts!”  “...?!” Sandbar, Sombra, and Gallus were all taken aback by those words, as each of them had a shocking revelation.  “You guys…” Sandbar said in astonishment, his self-loathing and doubt abating. “I completely screwed everything up, and you’re still protecting me? Why?” “They seek no excuse to turn on each other…” Sombra thought in disbelief, feeling a familiar feeling inside. “They honestly value the lives of others more than their own...but that’s not hatred...that’s...UGH!”  “Something’s not right with Sombra…” Gallus wondered to himself, sensing the feeling inside Sombra. “I’ve had a weird feeling about him from the beginning, but I haven’t been able to put my finger on what exactly has been up with him…”  Looking at his reflection in the crystal cage, Gallus saw his reflection change to the Tree’s avatar of Twilight winking at him, and gasped when he finally learned the answer.  “...until now...HHHYYYAAAHHH!”     The truth that Gallus could now see ignited the latent power within him, and a force of light energy burst from his heart, destroying Sombra’s crystal cage. Everyone flinched in shock.  “G-G-Gallus...?”  Gallus turned to them, his eyes glowing with light, and said… “I get it now. This power to sense the darkness on another level is something I must have picked up from my rigorous, cold, lonely upbringing...but I never realized that I also had the power to sense the light on another level until now thanks to you guys…”  Gallus then smirked before he pointed his finger at a nervous Sombra.  “And that includes you.” he finished.  “Preposterous!” Sombra exclaimed, trying to mask his worries. “All I did was try to hurt you!”  “Yet you failed…” Gallus confidently retorted. “Because your heart wasn’t in it. Let’s recap the events, shall we? You didn’t kill us or mind control us, let us know where our mentors were, gave us a chance at a fair fight, honored your word in not destroying the treehouse, and honestly commended us for our fighting spirit...because you’re rotten to the core? I don’t think so. You don’t want to admit it because you know it means you’ve lost...you now have a heart...with a love for light!”  “...” Sandbar went as he got up, these words being his final push.  The look on Sombra’s face contorted into one of sheer terror.  “That’s not true...I WON’T ACCEPT IT!” he bellowed, charging up dark magic in his horn as he began to sweat. “I’LL SHOW YOU HOW MALEVOLENT I AM!” “TRY THAT ON ME!” Sandbar called out to Sombra, getting his attention. “I get it now too! Strength doesn’t come from following orders blindly as you seek an excuse to unleash your hate! It comes from faith, faith you can only find when you honestly love a strong bond with strong friends! When you watch them stand up for what’s right, you want to do the same, no matter what the stakes! It’s because my friends loved me even after I messed up that I’m not afraid to die!”  “Sandbar…” Yona said with admiration, blushing.  “THEN JUST DIE, BRAT!” Sombra roared as he blasted Sandbar in the chest, only for the blast to be repelled.  “Is that all you got?” Sandbar taunted. “Because we’re not jacking around anymore, playtime is over…”  Sandbar and his friends began to gather around in a circle, with Sombra at the center.  “What are you fools doing?” Sombra questioned. “I told you, it’s no use! I have advantage over this area and can hide underground!”  “You can’t hide from your heart.” Gallus smiled as he reminded him.  “And you know what your heart is telling you…” Ocellus chimed in cheerily.  “But you won’t admit the truth until it bursts forth from you…” Sandbar smirked as he hinted at Sombra’s impending defeat.  All of the students’ eyes turned white with bright light as a similar force of light energy that erupted from Gallus’ heart began to erupt from Sombra’s heart. The dark ruler looked upon himself as he began to fall to ash, mortified as he felt this familiar feeling surge through him stronger than ever, and let out one final cry as he accepted his ultimate fate… “FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!!!!!”  His body disintegrated completely, leaving behind only a pile of ash and a small, black object that fell atop the ash. The students’ eyes returned to normal, and before long, they began to cheer.  “We did it!” Silverstream exclaimed happily. “We beat him for real this time! And we did it the right way too!”   “Guys, look!” Ocellus cried, interrupting the celebration by pointing to the black object that fell. Everyone went over to examine the object to discover… “A seed?” Sandbar asked. “What do we do with it?”  “We could eat it.” Gallus answered playfully, garnering bemused glares from his peers. “I’m just teasing. Get it, bird seed?”   “Wait…” Sandbar said, picking up the seed, remembering what Sombra said about going underground and always coming back. “You don’t think that…” “That’s far enough.”  A familiar voice came from behind, leading the students to look back in surprise to see Discord, in his ordinary form, standing by the avatar of the Tree of Harmony.  “Oh yeah, defeating Sombra must have freed you guys!” Silverstream exclaimed happily. “We’re so glad you’re back!”  However, the air became filled with tension as Discord and the Tree did not return Silverstream’s enthusiasm. Both of them looked bitter and cross as Discord continued to tell Sandbar… “Hand it over.”  “Discord...you...do know what this is, right?” Sandbar asked about the seed nervously.  “Yes.” Discord answered bluntly. “It’s the key to Sombra’s immortality, the very seed I created him from.”  “...?!” the students were taken aback, feeling both shocked and angry. “So it was you…”  “I hold no grudge against Discord for what he did.” the Tree interjected. “Nor do I hate Sombra...but he must be destroyed for good. Listen to Discord and surrender the seed.”  “But…” Sandbar objected meekly. “What if Sombra can change? You must know how he was defeated this time, we finally got him to accept the truth of friendship in his heart!” “You dare to resist me?!” Discord yelled, magically donning his journalist’s outfit. “Is this the word you want me to spread to the school? That you sympathized with the enemy, choosing an evil autocrat over your teacher? That’s how you want to remember your last lesson this term?! Pathetic! Why sacrifice everything for that piece of trash?!” Discord’s words reminded Sandbar of who he was before his friends stood up for him. In this moment, he was able to find another fire within his heart that gave him the courage to stand up to Discord and say… “BECAUSE NO ONE IS TRASH! It doesn’t matter whether it’s out of spite or apathy, you don’t defeat evil through destruction! You overwhelm evil with good!”  “Preach, brother!” Smolder complimented as she and the others stood by Sandbar. “Like we’re afraid of some hack reporter!”  “Truth will always overwhelm lies in the end.” Gallus interjected. “Do whatever you please, because we’d much rather be lied about than give into the demands of a jerk like you!”  “We won’t let you destroy Sombra!” they all proclaimed. “We’re going to make him good!”  The Tree stared at the group of friends, astonished, as Discord began to fume.  “Such sass…” he berated. “So crass...this is why all of you…”  “...PASS!” Discord exclaimed happily, his face abruptly beaming and his outfit having vanished.  “...What?” the puzzled students replied. “What do you mean?”    “You passed the test.” Discord answered jubilantly. “This was the real last lesson. The Tree and I set everything up to see if you were truly worthy of being passed your mentors’ torch.”  “So you both let Sombra kill you?!” they cried. “That’s crazy!”  “It was an essential sacrifice to teach both you and him the most important lesson of all.” the Tree explained happily. “You even surprised me in how you passed with flying colors.”  “How can that be when we still don’t understand what we learned?” the students asked, still confused.  “The first friendship lesson I learned came with my defeat.” Discord replied, smiling with the Tree as he looked up to the sky. “Friendship isn’t easy, but it’s definitely worth fighting for. Of course I didn’t get it at the time, and now, I’ve taught it to you through example.”  “Oh…” the students went, beginning to understand.  “You’ve always had a strong light within you.” Discord continued. “You’ve always known that those who follow the light will be revered as great...and now you know that those who stand up for the light no matter what, even learning to love the darkness that inevitably challenges them...will be revered as far greater than that!”    The students all grinned widely, filled with admiration.  “That...that is really cool…” Sandbar said, almost moved to tears of joy as he glanced at the seed. “I know in my heart now what we need to do…”   Soon after the students learned their last lesson, both the Treehouse of Harmony and the original Tree of Harmony came back. The students frequently visit both of them, always wishing to pay respects to both parts of the Tree for their teachings...the Spirit of the Tree and King Sombra, whom they could now see in the Tree’s reflection. And they always hear his heart say… “I thank all of you for saving my soul.”