//------------------------------// // Element of Purification // Story: Elements of Redemption // by Draxonos135 //------------------------------// Gloriosa Daisy landed on her butt in a rather familiar location: Camp Everfree, the camp that she once came close to losing, but eventually managed to retain with the help of the Rainbooms. Yes, that memory was still quite fresh in her mind. "Oh, Camp Everfree..." Then, she got an upsetting idea. "W-Wait, did the message take me to the camp before I got the stones and threatened everyone? O-Or did it take me to the moment when I went nuts with them and threatened everyone?!" "I assure you, it's neither of those things." Gloriosa turned around and take a guess who she found. "The donkey!" The donkey bowed. "In person, ready to help you learn about your element." Gloriosa slightly frowned. "Well, okay, but which element are we talking about? If I remember, there were five," Gloriosa counted with her fingers. "Karma, Guilt, Reflection, Communication..." It wasn't long before she connected the dots. "I'm the element of purification?" "You're a quick learner, I see. I'm glad to see one of the elements can learn things on their own," the donkey answered. "Yes, you're the element of purification: when magic corrupts entities into malicious forms, or people are transformed thanks to the great power magic grants them, it's your job to turn them back to normal." Gloriosa smiled at the statement... before her smile slowly turned into a frown. "Is something the matter?" Gloriosa sheepishly smiled. "My element... kinda sounds redundant." The donkey's eyes widened, almost as if the statement offended him, something Gloriosa quickly noticed. "D-Did I say something insensitive?" "You tell me: you know very well the dangers of being corrupted by magic, having been corrupted once yourself. The only reason you managed to turn back to normal was because the girls at your camp used their powers to destroy your Gaea Everfree persona, removing your powers and turning everything back to normal." "Yeah, I, uh, already know all that, it didn't happen too long ago actually," Gloriosa scratched the back of her head. "Why do you bring this up?" The donkey shook his head. Maybe Gloriosa wasn't such a fast learner after all. "They purified you." Gloriosa's eyes widened, and the donkey continued. "When Sunset Shimmer turned into a demon, the girls' powers purified her. When Midnight Sparkle was born from the magic in Twilight's object, Sunset Shimmer used her powers to purify her. Even when the action involved destroying the magical object, like with Wallflower Blush, Juniper Montage, and Vignette Valencia, the destruction of the object broke them out of its control, purifying them." Gloriosa looked back at her hands. "And I'm asking you to use the power of purification to help redeem the people corrupted by magic." "B-But still, just because you can give me the power of purification, and I can accept it, doesn't mean we should," Gloriosa frowned. "Like you just said, the girls from my camp used their powers to purify me, as well as do the same with some other people. Surely they should be enough, right?" "Sunset and her friends are many things, but they're not omnipresent," the donkey sighed somberly. "Just because they deal with one magical problem at a time, doesn't mean they can deal with every single problem. There will always be issues that they cannot take care of, which is where the elements of redemption come in." The donkey walked up to Gloriosa. "But before I go on, can you tell me if you'll take up the mantle, as element of purification?" Gloriosa scratched her chin and hummed, having both reasons to do it and not to do it. Mostly to not do it. But then again, now that she was here, and getting the feeling she wasn't going to be allowed to refuse the offer, Gloriosa nodded. "Alright, I'll take it up." The donkey smiled. "Good, now please show me your hands." Gloriosa hesitantly obliged and lowered her hands until the donkey could touch them with its hooves. A sharp pain soon followed once the hooves had touched her hands, Gloriosa screaming and groaning as her hands turned a glowing shade of white, followed by her veings turning white as well, stopping right at her elbow, soon followed by the pain. Once that was gone, Gloriosa opened her eyes and took a moment to scan the new look of her arm, growing more and more concerned as she precessed it. "W-What did you do?" "I gave you the power to purify things with a touch," the donkey answered. "But of course, in a normal place like this, the power would be useless. So how about we change it?" Camp Everfree flashed white, and before anybody could shout "not again!" the camp was covered in vines, just like back when Gloriosa did that as Gaea Everfree. Of course, Gloriosa now stood among the vines, so who was creating the vines was beyond her. Regardless, Gloriosa soon realized what she had to do, and immediately ran up to the vine tower that was the source of the vines, climbing it as the donkey spoke. "Even with karma as a reaction, guilt as a foundation, reflection as motivation, and communication as helper, if we don't purify ourselves of what corrupted us in the first place, they will live on." Gloriosa finally reached the top of the tower, and touched it, causing it to begin to crumble. "That corruption will tempt us, make us doubt ourselves. This will make the road to redemption much more treacherous." Eventually, Gloriosa began to see the face of the one responsible for the vines. "And in some cases, maybe even irrelevant." Finally, the tower collapsed, and the vines all vanished, with Gloriosa falling and only narrowly landing safely like a cat, followed by the person responsible for the vines, landing upside down in her arms. "From this point forward..." Gloriosa moved the person until she could look at their face, and finally she saw who they were... it'll be your job to purify them." The person was Timber, with Gloriosa barely getting to react to this revelation before she and the donkey were teleported away.