//------------------------------// // The Legend of Harmony Willowbark // Story: Pony Legend Bedtime Stories // by The Atlantean //------------------------------// A pink alicorn, no older than seven years of age, watched the sun come down, the moon rise, and the stars show their nightly beauty. Weaving through the sky, the auroras of the Crystal Empire swirled and sparkled, marking the end of the annual Crystal Fair. In the busy streets below her position on the balcony of the Crystal Castle, she saw the standard cleanup that always took place, dreadfully dull yet fascinating in how it was done. “Alright, Flurry Heart, almost time for bed,” a feminine voice called. “Coming, Mom,” Flurry replied. She turned around to see Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire and her mother, walk gracefully to the balcony where her daughter stood. “You want another story, don’t you?” Cadence asked. “I love your stories, Mom. All full of magic and adventure and Aunt Twilight and her friends and-” “I know, I know,” Cadence chuckled. “I have a different tale this time.” She teleported two cushions from the family room and plopped them on the balcony. After a pause, they both sat. “Is this a good story?” “Yes, my dear, this is one of the most famous stories of all time - even more than your aunt Twilight.” Cadence paused, collecting her thoughts for the coming hours. Finally, she said, “There are thousands of things in this magical world of Equestria that captures the mind and imagination of fillies and gentlecolts, young and old, awake or sleeping. The great wizard Star Swirl the Bearded is an excellent example. The legend of the Elements of Harmony are another, as are the pasts of Discord, Celestia and Luna, and the Changelings. “But this is not about any of those things or ponies, although they may be mentioned once or twice. This a tale older than Equestria, older than the three Tribes that eventually united, and older even than some of our oldest cities. It is not as old as creation, but it does come close, when ponies first began to start civilization… ---------------------------------- A twenty-odd-year old Unicorn mare picked her way through the forest. It was not like any forest we know of today, with beautiful greens, ancient castles, ferocious predators, and the occasional patch of poison joke. No, this was much different from the modern Everfree. Instead of the Tree of Harmony glowing during both day and night, the cave had not even formed, much less the canyon where it lay. A river, more of a stream now, flowed gently through the soil-banked path it had carved for itself. In a few thousand years the river would reroute and go around to the Ghastly Gorge, but currently, it was here, near the meadow that the modern ruins fill. The mare herself had a twilight-white coat, silky silver mane and tail, and golden eyes. Her rough coat made it easy to forget that she wasn’t a tree, and her contrastingly soft mane and tail felt like a sheep’s wool jacket. Those beautiful, golden eyes, glowing like the Sun with the coolness of the Moon, finished her mare-next-door prettiness like a rose in your hair. Her cutie mark, now that was interesting: she is the only pony known to have all seven Elements of Harmony as a cutie mark. The Rambling Rock Ridge as we know it does not yet exist, and neither do the nearby towns of Dodge City, Ponyville, and Appleloosa. Many land formations have yet to come into being, including the rocky spire where Canterlot rests today. Instead, the entire center of Equestria was a massive forest stretching from Fillydelphia to Los Pegasus, from the Macintosh Hills, at this time a huge mountain range many thousands of hooves tall, to the Crystal Mountains, steadily rising from their craggy tectonic border. The mare wore a saddlebag, something improved on for millennia to us, and a sheath, in which sat a dagger. Now this dagger was typical for a mare to keep with her as she wandered about the forest, full of dangers not even the Timberwolves can rival. Saber-toothed Timber-tigers exist along with their normal prey, and terrifyingly large carnivorous plants like the horrid-smelling Flytrap, which has shrunk considerably in size today, saturate the land with their scent. As she continued to walk carefully through the forest, across the stream, and farther into the meadow, she cast a seeing spell. All around her, the view transformed into a bustling camp, where a couple dozen ponies had set wards and traps around fro defense. This camp was bigger than most, encompassing the entire meadow, and smoke rose from the many cook-fires used by the population. “Ah! Our Willowbark has returned safe and sound!” exclaimed a Unicorn stallion excitedly. She bowed her head for a moment. “It is good to see you walking again, Grandfather. The sickness we have endured is finally coming to an end.” “It is indeed, Harmony,” her grandfather replied. Then, more urgently, he asked, “Do you have the herbs from the northern forest?” “Yes, Grandfather, I do.” Harmony opened her saddlebag to show her findings. Buried deep under many supplies and other plants, a tiny bag was tied shut with a rope. She took it out with her magic and undid the rope, revealing a single flower emitting a soft blue glow. “The camps there were fighting so hard that they completely destroyed much of the northern forest border. This is the only one left.” Her grandfather tenderly took the plant in his own magic, cradling it with a deep purple levitation spell. “Then we must protect it with our lives until we can grow more.” Harmony nodded. “How’s Grandmother?” “She moved on the day after you left.” A tear rolled down her grandfather’s cheek. He’d been with the elderly mare for forty whole years of dedication, and her loss was a huge blow to him. “But she said she’s lived a good long life.” “Yes, that she did.” Harmony indicated a small plot of cooled soil with her hoof. “That should be the best spot for it. We’d best plant it now, while you can still teach me to grow it. Soon, the sickness will no longer take our family and friends.” -------------------------------- “Woah, wait a minute!” Flurry said. “They’re scared of something like the flu?” “No, they aren’t.” Cadence took a deep breath. “This was much worse. We call it the Cutie Pox, and it has lost much of its severity in recent years, but back then it did not simply add more cutie marks; it instead took them away. It attacked the cutie mark and the magic surrounding it, eventually killing the affected pony as he or she was completely cut off from their mark. It was a grave disease, and we are just now able to uncover its grisly past.” “The Cutie Pox?” “Yes. Now, where was I?...” --------------------------------- It took several weeks for enough seeds from the flower to scatter around in the cooler soil. New plants grew slowly, especially outside their native habitat, and this particular one was no exception. If anything, it grew even slower. After two months, the winter cold had come, and only four of the seventeen seeds had sprouted. Harmony Willowbark was a gardener. Her talent was farming. She and her grandfather tended these plants for years, eventually growing enough to serve the needs of hundreds of individuals. After her grandfather passed due to his old age, she continued to garden, this time to summon an apparition of him - she had never been able to say her final goodbyes. Harmony had realized the full potential of the magic within these plants, which grew best during the winter nights, and saw that they could indeed do anything if she had enough of them. Her full and prosperous life, inventing marriage, giving birth to three, and always finding time to care for the flowers, is an example of her dedication. Very few ponies have ever been able to surpass her in this aspect through all of time. However, what she accomplished in the end was what made her truly special. Harmony stood in the canyon, a thousand years after her grandfather passed away. A strange side effect of working with these plants was near immortality, so she never looked older than twenty-seven for the past millennium. Her duty now was to finish the journey, accomplish the task. But she did not. Over the past thousand years, she had learned to cherish those you love, and hold their memories in your heart. That as long as you did that, those who were gone could be brought back without magic, without them being there. The mind’s eye is a powerful thing, for with it one can see everything they’d done, everything they can do, and everything they will. They can see their past experiences, their joys and fears, their family and friends. So although she had the magic, the knowledge, and the will, she could not summon her grandfather’s spirit. There comes a time in our lives when we must make a decision that will affect all of time after us. Harmony Willowbark had made hers. With the honesty in her heart, the kindness and generosity she’d shown her friends, the laughter and joy of her past, and loyalty to her family in her mind, and the magic within her and the plants, she cast a single spell - not the dozen needed to summon her grandfather’s spirit. The vast sea of glowing blue flowers coalesced into a single entity which blasted a hole in the canyon wall and rested within. It formed a tree with five large branches and six magical gems, along with the marks of the sun and moon. When the blinding white faded away, the Unicorn mare was nowhere to be seen. In giving the future access to the powerful magic of the Elements of Harmony, she gave herself to the inevitable passing. She had become the Tree of Harmony. ------------------------------------- “Which is why we call it the Tree of Harmony today,” Princess Cadence said to her yawning daughter. “It is not that it represents harmony through Equestria. The Tree is Harmony Willowbark, and we honor her sacrifice by remembering her story.” “Do you think if we tried hard enough, you, me, Aunt Twilight, and Celestia and Luna, that we could talk to her?” Flurry Heart asked, turning over in her bed. Cadence smiled softly. “Probably. But we should learn from her example. Besides, I bet you can talk to her in your dreams tonight.” With that, she kiss Flurry Heart goodnight, turned off the light, and closed the door.