//------------------------------// // Root of the Problem // Story: Gloriosa's Overgrowth // by Maran //------------------------------// It was a long drive to Canterlot. Gloriosa guessed that Filthy Rich wouldn't be at his office on a Saturday morning, so her best bet was to try his house. Since she had visited it once before with her parents, she knew the way there. She parked the truck when she was about a kilometer away from Rich Mansion, to make a dramatic entrance. After levitating out of the cab, she stretched her muscles. She glided up the street and looked around at the grand mansions with their pristine lawns and arborvitaes pruned into hideous shapes. Rock walls and wrought iron gates enclosed the yards, seemingly for the purpose of keeping out the riffraff. Every home had a garage that could hold at least three cars. The lavish excess bothered Gloriosa. But she was beyond such things as money and material possessions, so why should she care what these people did with theirs? Still, if Filthy Rich thought that the affluent would want to retreat to the woodlands to relax in a luxury spa, maybe she would simply bring the forest to them and save them all some time. She grinned at her spur-of-the-moment decision. Yes, that was exactly what she would do. She waited until she was just outside Rich's holly hedge before drawing energy from the geodes. Lime-colored static crackled out of the crystals and sparked over her arms and legs. Thick brown and green vines rose up out of Rich's yard and encased her lower body up to her waist. She spread her palms, and the small landscaping trees reacted. Spruces, maples, hollies, poplars, oaks, elms, beeches, and Neightalian cypresses all reached their tallest natural height, the larger species towering over the mansions. And of course, the arborvitaes grew wild spindly branches out of their geometric and animal forms, like strands of hair sticking out of a bun, before finally filling out into rounded cones. The ground shuddered as the all the tree and shrub roots within a 400 meter radius quickly displaced soil and rock. At this point, people started coming out of their residences, staring at their enlarged trees and at Gloriosa. Some of them clutched each other, but others held up their phones, either to make calls or catch Gloriosa on video. She just laughed and waved her arms in a wide circle. The trees and shrubs shook their branches, spreading their seeds in their various forms and methods. Maple helicopter seeds flew far and wide, while berries, nuts, and pine cones rolled away. Gloriosa sent a pulse of energy into the seeds, and they sprouted tap roots into the dirt and even forced their way into rock, concrete, and asphalt. Trunks expanded upward and divided into branches full of vibrant leaves or needles. They shoved aside cars and even cracked walls as they grew up against these obstacles. Before long, the mansions were mostly hidden inside a forest of beautiful trees and shrubs that their owners had carefully chosen – or in some cases, let their landscaper choose. The people simply stood as if they too were rooted to the ground, gaping up at her. Gloriosa beamed at them. “Don't be afraid. Nature is our friend!” “Stop!” She rotated in place toward the sound. The vegetation hid the speaker, but she knew who he was. “I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just come here and vandalize our property with your magic!” Filthy Rich stepped out from behind a spruce and marched toward her. “You call this vandalizing? I'm providing a free landscaping service and gorgeous trees that would cost thousands of dollars! Not that I care about money anymore. Besides, I thought you just loved the woods!” She rose higher and loomed over him, the vines still stretching from her waist to the ground. “That's why you wanted my land so much.” She flicked one finger and, with slyness that surprised even her, made tree roots grow up and wrap around Filthy Rich's leather shoes. The business owner didn't seem to notice. “Your land?” he repeated, blinking up at her. “Gloriosa Daisy?” “Come now, Filthy. I know my chromelanin changed but you should've recognized my voice by now.” “I thought you sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure.” He tried to take a step, but the roots had ensnared his ankles by that point, and his feet stuck fast. “Hey, let me go! Why are you doin' this?” “I'm doing this to show you that I don't owe you anything. I have all the power over the land that has been in my family for generations, and I don't need any pieces of paper to tell me that.” “So you didn't collapse from exhaustion then?” Filthy asked faintly. “What? Where did you get an idea like that?” Gloriosa tilted her head. “That's what your brother told me. I had my doubts about whether he was tellin' the truth, but I never imagined anything like this!” “Oh, so he lied to you too. Is that why you sent your drone to spy on us, so you could find out if he was lying? One of my campers brought the drone to me. I'll be hanging onto that. Any ball that ends up in my yard is mine. And if you or your little drones ever go near Camp Everfree again, there will be consequences!” she finished, making a fist. “Look, Gloriosa Daisy, don't you think you're takin' this a little too far? Maybe sendin' my drone over Camp Everfree was over the line, even though I'd like to point out that there's no law against it, but I just wanted to find out how your brother could manage the entire camp by himself. Besides, what you're doin' is a lot worse! Comin' into my neighborhood, damagin' property, and holdin' me against my will? That's just not right!” “Stop telling me what to do!” roared Gloriosa. “Hold it right there!” yelled another voice. It carried the air of a woman who was used to being obeyed. “I've got a drone armed with a modified pistol aimed at your center mass. Let my husband go and stand down, or I'll shoot.” Gloriosa's eyes widened as she looked up, and indeed, hovering ten meters above her was a quadcopter with a barrel fixed to the underside. “You're bluffing.” She whipped her head around wildly, and saw several random rich people, but she failed to spot Mrs. Rich. “Show yourself, you coward!” “I'm not a coward, you brute! I'm just smart, and I'm not bluffing.” “She's really not,” added Filthy Rich. Gloriosa gazed at the drone, her sense of self-preservation beginning to override her anger. What if the gold-digger wasn't bluffing? “Okay. I'm releasing him.” She held her hands in the direction of the roots holding Filthy's ankles. Then she drained the energy out of them, returning that power to the geodes, and the roots crumbled into compost. The businessman lifted his feet and sighed with relief. “Good,” said Spoiled Rich. “Now put your hands on your head and stay put until the police arrive.” As long as the uppity woman kept talking, Gloriosa had a better chance of pinpointing her location. “All right,” she said, raising her hands at a snail's pace. Then her arms quickly spread apart, making the trees in her line of sight topple over. And there stood the pink skinned earth aspect woman. Gloriosa channeled her magic into the tree roots behind Mrs. Rich. They sprang up at an angle and shoved the rich woman to the ground, and they pinned her there, winding around her arms especially. “You thought you could get the best of me? I still have a few surprises,” said Gloriosa, directing the geodes' energy into the tree roots near the residences. They broke into the mansions' foundations, cracking them into unstable fractions. The homes were shaken to their cores: still technically standing, but unfit to live in. The stones and wood groaned as they resettled. Filthy Rich ran toward his wife, but Gloriosa sent up a root to trip him. Then an orange glow lit the new forest. Gloriosa wondered if it could possibly be a fire before she stared up in front of her and saw a young woman – hardly more than a girl, really – floating gently down on flaming wings. “We need to talk,” the woman said plainly. Gloriosa tensed. “What are you doing here?” “I could ask you the same question. I heard a dozen people whisper my name in this area in the last few minutes, and I thought I'd better check it out. Those crystals.” The Lady of Harmony pointed, and Gloriosa put both hands over them. “Where did you get them?” “I found them on my family's land. They're mine! I was meant to have them.” “They're not of this world. They're Equestrian. I can feel it.” Sunset Shimmer shook her head. “I wonder how I didn't feel it earlier, but I'm not really omniscient even though most people think I am.” Gloriosa positioned her body sideways from Sunset, ready to defend herself. “Well, if they're from that horse world, how did they end up in a cave in the bottom of my quarry?” “I have no idea. But I want to find out. Let me help you.” “Help me with what? I don't need any help. I got this!” “Any time someone has that much magic, they need someone else to keep them in check. Trust me, I know this from personal experience. Come with me.” The divine woman reached her hand toward Gloriosa. “No! You just want to take my geodes!” Gloriosa threw up her hands and literally lashed out at Sunset, sending vines toward her. At the same time, she weaved away from her through the trees. Sunset, however, merely teleported away from the vines and reappeared in front of Gloriosa, blocking her path. “I don't want to take them, but I have to if you can't use them responsibly.” Sunset's hands glowed crimson as they stretched toward the geodes. Other than that, nothing happened. The supreme being frowned and glanced from her hands to the crystals. “Huh.” Gloriosa smirked. “What was that supposed to do?” Quicker than ever, she made vines shoot up in a dome to enclose Sunset, but the Magic Bringer merely teleported out of them. “It seems we're at an impasse. Good thing I have backup,” said Sunset. She closed her eyes, and her lips began to move silently. Gloriosa seized this opportunity to glide toward her truck. Maybe, just maybe she could make a clean getaway. Just as she saw the truck through the trees, Sunset reappeared in front of her, along with six other girls. Even though not all of them had light wings, they were all floating like Gloriosa. Sunset held her arms toward the geodes once more, and this time they loosened from the vine tying them together. “No! Stop!” Gloriosa gasped. But there was no stopping it. The geodes separated and flew toward each of the girls. Gloriosa didn't see what happened next. She blacked out.